Social media has very quickly become a place to share news and information. Any NFL fan can watch Twitter on a Sunday afternoon and not miss a play, family members can share updates through Facebook and now social media has become one of the largest sources for news.

In a day in age where we rely on “instant results” there isn’t time to wait around for the major news networks to update their website reflecting all of the breaking news. Instead we turn to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to get the latest gossip.

An Era of Apple Comes to an End as Steve Jobs Dies

Tonight the world learned that Apple founder Steve Jobs died just one day after the first Apple announcement under Apple’s new CEO, Tim Cook. As users were disappointed with yesterdays announcement, many were hoping that Steve Jobs would be back for the iPhone 5 announcement.

Just one day later news would break that Steve Jobs has passed away.

While the story may have broke on MSNBC or CNN, thousands of people found out when they opened their Twitter stream or their Facebook news feed. From social media, users had linked out to other news sources but the news spread quickly with thousands of tweets thanking Steve Jobs for “all of the Apples.”

Some people may click to read the full story, the ripple effect had already spread through social media faster than anyone could read the obituaries posted about Steve Jobs.

People didn’t question the source, they just posted their condolences.

Amanda Knox Verdict

Another story that made it big on social media this week was the end of the Amanda Knox appeal. Monday was a big day for Amanada Knox and all of the Americans who have followed her case over the last four years. After appealing her murder conviction, they were waiting to hear the judges final result.

The video was streamed live through websites like CNN, they had a live blog and there was live tweeting going on. Yet, when the verdict was read the tweeting and blogging stopped. Amanda Knox was taken from the courtroom on her way back to gather her things before those who couldn’t get a connection to the live video even knew what the Amanda Knox verdict was.

Whoops!

Immediately turning to Twitter, people were already tweeting the verdict before any of the major news stations had it posted on their update. Within seconds those of us waiting on CNN and MSNBC were able to find the verdict with no questions asked. We immediately trusted the source.

All of this brought up one big question in my mind: Is Twitter (and other social media websites) becoming our mainstream news source?

Social media allows us to customize the news we hear about based on those people we follow. Instead of checking CNN for the news, I find myself checking Twitter and Facebook first. After I’ve made it through that news I turn over to our local news website or CNN. Generally speaking I’ve already seen the major news stories that appeal to me on my social media websites.

Steve Jobs and Amanda Knox are just two examples of how quickly social media can spread the news.

What are your thoughts? Should the major news networks be concerned about social media taking their place?

About a year ago I bought my Kindle. Honestly one of the best purchases I have made. Ever since I graduated college and randomly decided to do my senior paper on the Left Behind series (which involved reading 12 books in 5 weeks plus my other full load of work) reading hasn’t really been happening too much. Until I bought my Kindle I think I read 3 full books in two years…

Oops

In December I was reading a series called the Lauren Holbrook series. While it is a cheesy Christian series, it was good to get back into reading. While it took me 5 months to read three books (I’d get into them one week and not read for three weeks) I finally finished the last of the series two weeks ago.

Last year when I first got my Kindle I ordered a book called Vision in White by Nora Roberts, it was part 1 of a four book series and the second one had come out in October called Bed of Roses.

While its cheesy romance

I can’t put the book down. I’m already a quarter of the way into it. Unfortunately, the next book, Savor the Moment, isn’t on Kindle… Wow, I’m getting spoiled with my kindle.

Anyways, I’m reading again… it is getting my mind moving which I needed to do, and I think in some ways is making me think more when I write. Whether it be my own personal writing, or writing here, or writing over at the GT blog (yes I referenced A Cinderella Story in my speed blogging post today), it is getting easier, kind of like it was back in college.

Weird huh?

Knitting is coming along, I randomly cast on a shawl last week so hopefully that will continue to move forward. Until then, I’m off to read my cheesy books.

So it’s been just over a week since I issued the inbound challenge to northwest Indiana, southwest Florida, and everyone else around the world.

My goodness it’s been incredibly fun to watch. Ignoring the fact that I’ve barely blogged here, I’ve been enjoying spending my 33 minutes a day on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn… and commenting on other blogs.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s tons I want to write about… such as:

• My awesome week of mail (involving lights, social media pillows [I'm a TOTAL nerd], and fiber)
• Why I have WAY too many knitting books, but still refuse to give them up (couldn’t lift the box by myself)
• How excited I am getting back into photography (gym photos in two weeks!!!)
• How I actually finished a book (It only took three months)
• Why the Apple store in downtown Chicago completely rocks my socks (new space bar, new battery, no cost!)
• …and most recently, why you should go see Billy Elliot (Chicagoans, GO!)

Have I?

Eh no…

Will I?

Hopefully this week… plus more!

I have a whole list of things I want to blog about, talk about, and keep writing down… This week, just wasn’t a good week… Actually May is just a crazy month to be trying to keep up with all of this, which is why it’s been such a great challenge to me. On Friday I mentioned on Twitter that I wanted to blog, I just hadn’t had time… saan1911 suggested I write a blog about not writing a blog… so I decided to do so…

Here is a nice long winded blog to say that I haven’t sat down to organize my thoughts… and really the only point of this entry is to tell you that I’ve been enjoying watching everyone’s #golden33 and I can’t wait to continue to see how the month of May plays out for everyone!

My blogging hasn’t really been there lately, sure a photography post here and a knitting post there, but nothing to what I wanted this blog to be…Part of it is due to my blogging on Golden Tech’s blog lately. I’m saying a lot of what I wanted to say about social media over there. The other part of it is that I got busy and lazy.

Yesterday, I issued a challenge. So far we have 13 people joining in. Including @natfinn and I. What does this mean?

I might actually blog.

Don’t get me wrong. I wont post blogs just because I have to. I’m going to mix it up between social media, blogging, commenting, etc…

Getting this blog back in shape, there’s going to be photography, knitting, healthy train, and whatever else comes up. I want to talk more about my photo set up, why knitting is important to me, and dig into all of it a little more.

Interested and up for the challenge? I encourage you to join in. Realistically speaking the whole thing started because of a picture. A picture that involved some senior citizens giving a thumbs up. From there I was inspired to write a blog… I threw around ideas like “Are you hip with inbound marketing” or “are you too cool for inbound marketing” but at the end of the day, a challenge seemed to fit.

So, you in? It’s going to be fun and we’re having a blast already seeing where it’s going.

ps. this blog entry really has no point… just to announce that i might actually start writing more

Stripey Socks

When I first started knitting socks, someone mentioned Blue Moon Fiber Arts. My first trip to the website and I knew I would have a hard time not buying. I purchased the Sherbet colorway.

Knitting it in my normal sock pattern, I didn’t like the way it was striping up alone. I headed back to Blue Moon Fiber Arts and picked up the Stormy Weather colorway. At first I started knitting a Chevron scarf. After awhile I came to the realization that I was never going to finish a scarf on size four needles that didn’t involve lace. This yarn was destined to be striped socks.

I cast on 64 stitches and did a 2×2 rib for the cuff. At the end of every row I twisted the yarns and picked up the next color. The heel is a short row heel, since I did one of the socks toe up… and the other top down. These socks were knit over a year’s time as I picked them up and put them down. I wasn’t a fan of working with the two colors to make it stripe, but I knew ultimately I needed to finish the socks.

I finished the socks last weekend in the midst of my sock kick. They were knit on size 2 needles and fit a woman’s 9-10 foot. I’m glad the socks are done and honestly I probably won’t go back and knit another pair of socks the way I knit these. It was an experiment to see if I would like it and ultimately I didn’t. I do love the socks though and they’re fun to wear around.

Swiss Hat

About 10 months ago, my friend Jessica decided to go to Switzerland as an Au Pair. She put in her knitting request of a hat for winter with the Swiss logo on it, semi-matching the Swiss flag.

I decided it was the perfect chance to break out the double knitting. That lasted for about 5 rounds and decided it was better to straight knit the hat with the cross in white. The hat was knit with Cascade 220 Superwash so it could be thrown in the washing machine and still fit correctly. It was knit on size 7 needles with 116 stitches in the round.

The hat was originally supposed to make it to Switzerland before it got cold. Another project got in the way and I had to push it back a little bit. At that point I decided I wanted to get it to Switzerland before the Olympics!

The hat arrived in Switzerland about two weeks ago and is now working to keep her warm. Overall the hat was a fairly quick knit once I got passed the cross portion of it. It was a matter of sitting down and finding time to get it done. She now can support both the US and Switzerland as they compete for gold in the 2010 Olympics.

It’s that time again, the torch is lit, Vancouver is ready, and the events have started. The 2010 Winter Olympics bring about the 21st Winter Olympic Games. On a normal winter weekend I won’t be seen watching skiing, snowboarding, or even speed skating, but for the next 16 days the events will be on both my computer and TV as much as possible. Opening Ceremonies is what I consider my Super Bowl. I love watching the athletes march in, the singing, and finally the lighting of the torch.

Why is that?

As Georgia lost a teammate during training yesterday the games were off to a somber start. Last night, amidst the magic of the Opening Ceremonies we were reminded of the reality. Usually the most memorable moment of Ceremonies for me is the lighting of the torch. Last night, it wasn’t the torch (probably to the delight of the Olympic Committee), it was when the team from Georgia walked in. Not a smile on any of their faces, but probably the biggest supporting cheer of the night. Watching everyone in the stadium stand up and applaud in support, knowing the tragedy from earlier in the day. Being able to watch athletes from countries who didn’t know him wear black bands around their arms, the stadium share the moment of silence, and watch the lowering of the flags all in Nodar Kumaritashvili’s honor really showed the world coming together. To me, that’s what the Olympics are all about.

It’s not just for the sports either. Every four years the Yarn Harlot organizes The Knitting Olympics, so knitters can test their skills like the athletes do. For 16 days your push yourself on a project and in the end either achieve that gold medal or not. For the 17 days (starting with the Opening Ceremonies, ending with the Closing Ceremonies) you knit with the motto Citius, Alitius Fortius.

For 17 days every two years (Summer and Winter Olympics) we can put the fighting, the politics, and all of the junk going on in the world behind us and come together as one. As we sit in our living rooms or in front of our computers we watch as miracles happen and life long dreams are achieved. For the next 16 days, it doesn’t matter what your country’s government is doing, it doesn’t matter what religion you are or what color your skin is. For the next 16 days there will be plenty of excitement as we come together as one world.

Let the games begin!

In the midst of all of the devastation in Haiti, it was nice this week to hear of an amazing story that has come out of the earthquake to a friend of mine, K. I had to share the story and encourage everyone to donate, even a little bit to help rebuild!

K’s daughter has been in the adoption process for two years for a little boy, R, from Haiti. They’ve been working with the Three Angels orphanage in Haiti and all of the paperwork was done, they’ve just been waiting for a number of months for it to be processed through the state. K’s daughter has made many trips down to visit R and they’ve grown close and they were ready to bring him home.

Last week the world watched as Haiti crumbled after an earthquake shattered their world. Among those affected were over 300,000 orphans throughout Haiti. R was one of them. K began to send email updates to us letting us know that he was okay. With all the talk of the adoption papers being lost for so many of the orphans, the 26 kids at Three Angels were incredibly lucky… they had backup copies.

Over the last week we’ve been getting email updates from K about the status of R. Monday morning we got an email telling us that K’s daughter had an email to pack her bags, he would be in the USA soon, she would need to meet him in Florida. Last night at 5:00 another email came in saying K’s daughter was on her way to Florida as she typed the email, R was going to meet her there. The flights were donated by privately owned planes to bring the kids home.

Walking into Bible study this morning it was exciting to hear the news that R was united with his mom by midnight last night, and all 26 of the orphans from Three Angels were united with their families!

Red Cross is taking donations to help Haiti rebuild, and so is the Three Angels orphanage. They will be rebuilding to help a whole new group of kids find homes. Not trying to jump and force anyone to donate, but if you have a little bit of extra cash laying around… it is providing some wonderful opportunities and joy in the midst of all of the disaster.

About a month ago a friend from work’s wife (Check out her blog: Mommy Trial and Error) asked me to knit a few hats for her sister. It was the perfect time to pick up the book “itty-bitty hats” by Susan B. Anderson, recommended to me by a friend from knitting. In short, I’m addicted to this book now. I knit up two hats for her out of a mix of Plymouth Dreambaby and Berroco Comfort. After the two hats were finished I just had to knit a third.

The first hat was the bunny tail hat. I knit it up in the brown to make it work for both boys and girls as it could be a bear or a bunny. The hat was knit fully out of the Dreambaby on size 6 needles. The size was for 0-6 months and came out adorable!

The second hat was the Stripey Stocking Cap. This was knit out of a mix of Dreambaby and Comfort on size 6 needles. I wasn’t sure how they would work since they are technically two different weights but they worked really well together. This was a 6-24 Month size hat.

The final hat that I’ve knit was for an cutie pie named Allie. The snowman was the name of the hat and once again, was knit out of a mix of Comfort and Dreambaby. She is six months old so the hat is the 6-18 month old size, hopefully should fit her through the winter. If nothing else, it fit her for Christmas!

Confidence is something that everyone holds differently. For me, I’m incredibly confident in my hobbies but when it comes to the things I do in my day-to-day life… my confidence needs work. Back in September, my mom had sent me an article from the Toledo Blade about a girl who became a photographer for Rolling Stone magazine. One of her inspirations was a book called “It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be” written by Paul Arden. Self help books, not generally my thing; books with a whole bunch of one-line quotes and large print, those are my thing. This book was definitely my thing.

Overall the book was a lot more about making money then it was gaining the motivation I needed. Granted, it was still a good book and helped me put a new perspective on life. I’m generally a person who plays by the rules, or sticks close to them. One of the best quotes that from the book was “If you can’t solve a problem it’s because you are playing by the rules.” It seems like a simple quote and a simple answer, but it made me step back and think a little bit about everything. This book was far from a book teaching readers how to play by the rules. In fact it was encouraging readers not to.

When I say not playing by the rules, I’m not referring to going out and robbing a bank. His advice was focused on making people take you seriously and making them listen. At the same time, he was encouraging readers to be realistic about things. For example, one of the headlines is “Don’t promise what you can’t deliver”.  A headline not too much further on in the book is “Don’t take no for an answer”. Both are two great pieces of advice and both go hand in hand when working with anyone. The book is more focused on a work environment, but did a great job of advice for all aspects of life.

The design of the book was also well done. It’s a smaller book so it was easy to throw into a computer bag without taking up too much room. The font was bigger so it wasn’t squinting to read and there were plenty of pictures to illustrate his points. This book was not your every day self help book, it was far from it but it had some great advice to offer and of course, was filled with some great quotes!

Some interesting advice he had to offer at the end of the book was “Present on Tuesday”. Why is that? You’ll have to pick up a copy of the book to find out why!

I photographed my first wedding as a second shooter with Cat Hoffman. We had a great time at the wedding and for me it was a full day of firsts. Not only was it my first wedding, but it was my first time shooting with a flash! In photo class in high school we always used natural or studio light but never made it as far as attaching a flash to our camera. Which I think is awesome because we learned so much more about low light settings, but now I’m learning about using a flash and I love it!

Here are some of my favorites from the wedding:

The groom surprised the bride with the carriage ride. It was pretty fun to follow a horse and carriage down a major highway. Between taking tons of pictures and watching the groomsmen run alongside the carriage, it made for a great 45 minutes of photography!

Overall it was a wonderful first wedding experience. I learned a lot and can’t wait to do some more!

Their full gallery can be found here.

The Page Dairy Creamed Cottage Cheese Bottles

In 1975 after 62 years of existence The Page Dairy closed its doors. For the last 34 years The Page Dairy has been a memory of Toledo, OH showing up in newspapers and some books. Most people who were in Toledo, OH during the dairy’s existence have some sort of story to tell about it. Many had family members who worked at the dairy or remember weekend trips to get their ice cream.

As the generation of Toledo, OH who knew The Page Dairy in its golden years is slowly becoming fewer and fewer, our family wanted to continue on the legacy of The Page Dairy. Over the last year, and more so in the last few weeks, my parents have worked to pull together Page Dairy history and put it all on the web. Simply put, we’re bringing memories of historic Toledo, OH to the web at www.thepagedairy.com.

My dad has been a collector of anything Page Dairy for as long as I can remember. In more recent years his collection has grown as Ebay has become so easy to buy and sell on. We’ve been able to take the items he collects and learn about the history of the dairy through these milk bottles, cottage cheese cartons, and ice cream spoons. Family members have been able to come over and we’ve had the chance to work together to share our stories, articles, and pictures of the dairy.

We as a family are always looking to hear stories and love hearing about how families came together on the weekends to enjoy their ice cream, or how a member of their family used to work at the dairy. For those of you who knew the Dairy and remember historic Toledo, please stop by the website and share your stories!

The Page Dairy website is far from complete, with peoples stories, additional articles, and even more collectibles still to come.

Website: www.thepagedairy.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/thepagedairy
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Toledo-OH/The-Page-Dairy/144970432148

Hanging Out With My Family

Facebook was originally created by Mark Zuckerberg as a way to keep in touch with his college friends, obviously it has expanded to more than that. This past year I have been able to use it for both the social media aspect of life as well as the personal aspect Mark originally created it for.

My family has been through a lot in the last year. We lost my grandfather and a cousin within 3 months of each other and we’re dealing with it from multiple different states. A family whose really kept together through email on and off over the years, we found another way of bringing it even closer, Facebook.

All of us cousins and I vary in age and from time to time have always gotten back together, had a good time, and gone on our way. After everything our family went through this past year, we turned to each other using the social network, Facebook, to keep in touch and encourage each other through various times. One of my cousins (technically a third cousin) and I really kept in touch and it became at least a weekly, if not daily, communication tool for us. We are 5 years apart in age and growing up only saw each other on a few occasions despite being from the same hometown.

Over the last 10 months we’ve mainly communicated through Facebook, but we realized we hadn’t seen eachother in three years, since her wedding. I finally decided it was time to travel down south getting to know her, her husband, and her 18 month old boy. Running around, singing multiple different Elmo songs, and playing in firetrucks, I had a chance to get to know a part of my family I barely would have known without the chance we had to re-connect on Facebook.

While Facebook is an amazing tool for businesses, playing games, and posting pictures… The best thing it gave me was a chance to go back to it’s roots, connecting with family and friends.

I’m a girl in her early twenties whose got a love of Photography, Knitting, and Social Media. This blog is going to be thoughts, comments on social media/technology, books, some of my photography, and knitting. It’s basically a little bit of everything.

The whole mindset between It’s Not Just Black and White is that a lot of times we see things at one end or the other of the spectrum. A lot of times there is little bits and pieces we can see in between. The photographer in me loves black and white photography and the beauty behind it yet the knitter in me will rarely ever knit something in just black or white.

Since graduating college in 2007 with degrees in New Media Journalism and Theology I’ve grown to love and hate the technology world. The constant ups and downs and daily changes of technology and the way we use it has been most of my love and hate. I love researching and reading up on new technologies especially when it comes to social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and whatever new network comes next.

Graduating with a degree in New Media Journalism I feel like part of me wishes I graduated three or four years later. Facebook came to Valparaiso University when I was a freshman… The social media aspect of the world today fascinates me and would be awesome to study. That’s kind of where that portion of this blog will head… what new things pop up and what the hottest topics are on the social media networks.

The knitter in me will be sharing finished knitting projects, knitting drama, knitting pattern reviews, and a variety of other things. I dye yarns at The Knitted Geek Yarns and from time to time may post discounts and deals here.

I’m learning for the first time to shoot photography manually with a digital camera. My grandpa was a photographer as one of his main hobbies and I’ve spent time in the past playing around with his lenses, but it’s all been with film. i’ve shot an engagement session and a wedding as a second shooter with Cat Hoffman Photography and I’m continuing to learn and looking to do more! I also am doing some photographs for Perpetual Motion Sports. Here I’ll talk about my learning experience with my camera.

I may throw some book reviews from all of these topics in as well.

If you want to view only certain topics please use the category links to your right. Those will help you narrow down your search as this is a blog of everything I spend my days filled with.

Most posts won’t be this long, but I thought it would be good to throw an introduction up here before I jump into a wide variety of topics that don’t interact all that much…

and bought a Nikon D60… and I am 100% IN LOVE with it. I shot almost 200 pictures this weekend… a few highlights.

So I’m completely in love with my camera. I’m trying to learn everything I can about it so I can shoot more and more. I’m hopefully going with one of my friends up to a meet up with some other photographers on Tuesday and am just trying to find as many oppertunities to shoot as I can, I want to learn!!

And yes, I’m still working on the miter square blanket