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About: This plugin watches your Twitter RSS Feed for user-defined “launch codes” to trigger user-defined script URLs.

Have you ever needed a script or task run on your blog and you were not near a computer with internet access? Well look no further than “Tweet My Script.” This plugin allows you to simply use your cell-phone to text a short tweet to Twitter with a “launch code.” When someone accesses your Word Press blog, Tweet My Script will check to see if you’ve left any new launch codes to activate. After each successful launch, the plugin records the previous tweet. This insures that the script being launched will only be launched once, unless the launch code is used again in a new tweet. This plugin can be used to launch any public accessible script.

Installation

1. Upload `tweet_my_script.php` and `tweet_my_script_options.php` to the `/wp-content/plugins/` directory

2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress

3. Configure plugin settings from the dashboard settings option `Tweet My Script`

Download

Tweet My Script WordPress Plugin (82)

This is my first official plugin for WordPress! If you find it helpful or would like to help further push development, please donate!

  

This weekend, my friend Shawna and I surprised our friend Catie for a birthday lunch and a lovely little place called the Garden Cafe at Flag Fork.  Catie had previously been, though Shawna and I had not.  We decided it would be nice to make a girl’s day of it, and we sent the boys off to fend for themselves for lunch.

Catie came over to the apartment to supposedly pick me up, so Matt and I hid Shawna and Robert (her fiance) in the bathroom.  When Catie came in, out they popped!  Since we had a bit of time to kill before our reservation  (you have to make reservations for this place, its small and very popular) we went ahead and had her open her presents prior to leaving.  Matt and I got her a gift card to download some more books on her Sony Ereader, and Robert and Shawna got her a Hello Kitty Gumball Machine (Catie is a Hello Kitty Fanatic).

We then headed to the restaurant, which was built in an old plantation house, and includes a store full of all sorts of crafty knick-knacks.  We told them we were there for our reservation, and browsed the store till our name was called.  A simple restaurant, they serve soups and sandwiches, fresh fruit and pasta salads, and a huge variety of desserts.  Shawna and I each had a simple turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread and fresh fruit, and Catie had peanut butter and strawberry jelly on white bread with seafood linguine pasta salad.  And they also have the most delicious lemonade I have ever had in my life!  Regular old lemonade, infused with spearmint YUM YUM!

The food was fantastic, the turkey sandwiches were delicious and the fruit was perfectly sweet.  Catie also ordered a bourbon chocolate cake that was served warm and melted in your mouth.

All in all, a wonderful little place, perfect for a quiet lunch or a girls day out!  Hidden in the heart of downtown Lexington, its definitely worth checking out! – Heather

Last year, Matt and I went with my parents to the Land between the Lakes in western KY to attend the annual “Eagle Weekend“. We had so much fun, that we jumped on the chance to go back again this year. So we drove down to Kentucky Lake on Friday afternoon to meet up with my parents at the cabin we rented this year. A long drive from home, but one of the most worth it trips we could take. I love nature and all forms of animal life, and getting the chance to study these magnificent creatures in their natural environment is something that I will always enjoy.

Friday night began with the orientation meeting at the Kentucky Dam Village conference center. We headed over early enough to get decent seats for the evening’s presentation. After settling down in our seats, we were surprised to find out that my Uncle Russ and Aunt Laura were also there for the weekend! The orientation presentation is mainly aimed at those who hadn’t been to Eagle Weekend before, but it is always very interesting, and worth going to for the refresher course on recognizing eagles. They explained how to recognize the American Bald Eagle, as well as how to tell the approximate age of the eagles we would be spotting. After this presentation, we made sure we had the times and locations down for the following day’s activities, and headed back to the cabin, where Matt and I taught my parents how to play Phase 10.

Saturday morning dawned bright and early, and we got ready to head out to go on the boat tour on Kentucky Lake. We picked up my aunt and uncle and headed to the marina where the boat was docked, about half an hour away (the location had been changed due to the KY Dam Village Marina still being frozen over due to the VERY cold weather we had been experiencing in KY). But the weather was nice that day, and once we got out to where we could view the eagles, we could all go out on the deck without being totally frozen. With the help of some high-powered binoculars and my new Fuji-Film S1500 camera, we saw, and took pictures of, around 50 eagles, including the nesting pair in the picture below.

Saturday afternoon, we headed out to the heart of the Land between the Lakes, to the Elk and Bison Prairie.  Here there are many bison and elk, all living in the wild, but fenced in so that we can drive along a road through the prairie and study them much closer that normally.  We saw these amazing animals in all their glory.  The bison were mainly resting, in a huge group very near each other, as seen in the picture below.  The elk, however, were not quite as cooperative as far as seeing them or taking pictures.  We only saw a small group of elk, laying in the woods together, and they were all males.  We assumed that there had to be females as well, but we unfortunately didn’t get to see any.

And here is a picture of the elk we saw.  As you can see, they were all laying down near each other, and using the trees for camouflage.

Saturday evening ended with a presentation from Raptor Rehab of Kentucky, which is a non-profit organization based in Louisville.  They brought several birds for us to see up close, including a bald eagle, a peregrine falcon, a red-tailed hawk, a great horned owl, a turkey vulture, and my personal favorite, a saw-whet owl.  Each of these animals had been injured in some way that prevented them from being able to survive in the wild, and therefore now will live out the remainder of their lives in captivity, at the Raptor Rehab facility.  However, these birds are brought along on presentations that the group does, which helps raise awareness and funds to take care of these magnificent creatures.  Below are some of my favorite pictures of the raptors from the presentation.

Red-tailed Hawk	Turkey Vulture
Peregrine Falcon	Great Horned Owl
American Bald Eagle	Saw-whet Owl

If you’ve been keeping up with the news, you’re aware of the huge earthquake (7.2) that struck in Haiti. My prayers and thoughts go out to all the people of Haiti. I can’t imagine what they’re going through. From what I understand the infrastructure in Haiti can’t handle a blow like this. They’re struggling to get systems back online just for emergency efforts and prepare for recovery. News reports say the death toll is likely in the thousands.

Hands and Feet, is a mission in Haiti created by one of my favorite bands of all time, Audio Adrenaline. They were able to report in and let people know that everything is safe at the mission. They’re sending out people to help others. Band leader, Mark Stuart was able to update everyone via sat-link internet connection. He says everyone is fine. They’re more concerned about other people at the moment.

Check out KLOVE’s website for more details about missions in Haiti and what you can do to help. I encourage you to keep these people in your thoughts and prayers. They’re working to be the Hands and Feet!

KLOVE – Haiti

Recently todayshottrends.com posted an article about “Things killed by the Internet.” I found some of the things listed pretty interesting. However I do not think all of these things are completely gone. I just think the internet may have changed the way most people do things. It has played a role in changing the way we operate in general. I propose that most of these things, are not dead. There are things the internet has changed or had an effect on. One example, a lot of people will argue that the world is going paperless. Personally I think it’s a great thing. However it’s not going to happen overnight. What about the way we send information?

STAMPS

In the article, item number one is stamps. Stamps will always be around. There will always be a need for hand delivered hard copies or documents. Especially documents of a sensitive nature (legal documents). Someone out there is always sending something anonymously (not just in acts of terrorism or illegal activity). However I will agree that emailing and buying postage online is very popular. Not to mention how easy and waste-less digital imagery is. Which brings us to number two, faxing.

FAXING

Faxing still happens on a daily bases. We may change how we receive or send our faxes. Emailing may be more efficient for sending images/documents. But there are people in this world, that faxing is still their main form of electronic delivery. Whom will more than likely will send faxes to someone, who will receive it as an email. But it’s not going away anytime soon. A fax is just a phone call away, without a trip to the internet. What about looking up phone numbers?

TELEPHONE DIRECTORIES

The article also listed telephone directories. I would almost agree with this one. However, what if you’re power goes out and you need to call the power company? Unless you have an emergency contact list or the number saved in your cell phone. How are you going to know who to call? I ran into this issue not long ago when my cable/internet went out. I had to find a neighbor with a phone book. When everything is perfect in the world of utilities, I think there is evidence of change in how some people look-up phone numbers. Moving on, next is picture albums.

PHOTO ALBUM

Online picture albums are excellent way to share photos. I just started using Flickr myself. There are also some great photo picture frames that can connect via WiFi to your online photo sharing account. However even with high resolution photo technology, it’s still not a replacement for holding a real photo album. There’s something warm about being able to handle and touch photos. Do you get the same feeling passing a photo frame or iPhone around the coffee table? The internet may have changed how we share photos with people that we’re not geographically close too. But the photo album is not going to go away anytime soon. Too many scrap-bookers out there that agree with me. Speaking of sitting around the coffee table.

WATCHING TELEVISION TOGETHER

The article also suggest that watching television together is non-longer popular. I think the internet may have played a part in why families and friends don’t watch together. But I still think, it hasn’t killed it. It may have enabled more people to watch shows on their own. However it would be very hard to believe that sports fans, not sharing the big game with their friends at the local pub. However the internet combined with the changing family lifestyle, it’s a possible recipe for defeat. But the internet isn’t killing the idea of sharing time in front of the tube altogether. It’s changing the way we get our television programming. At our house, we no longer have cable. Most of what we watch comes from Hulu and we watch it together.

THE MYSTERY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Foreign languages are mysterious, I do agree. I can use online tools to help translate some languages for better understanding. However I’m not comfortable saying, I could use these tools to master these languages. But never the less, even after using translation tools. I still find the meanings of strange words mysterious. I don’t know, it may just be me. Even with years of study, foreign languages are hard to understand. So languages are still mysterious.

NEWSPAPERS

Newspapers are losing their market share to internet media. It’s not new news. However they’re still around. People still want to be able to touch their news. It’s like a book. There is something special about the look and the feel of news print. Not to mention, how easy it is to read pages of news print verses pages of content on screen. As I said earlier with phone books, what are you going to read when the power goes out? Do you want to know something going on in your small town? Your best bet, is to pickup a newspaper. Not a lot of small community news outlets, maintain online editions. It’s not dead yet.

LIBRARY

I can honestly say, I can count how many times I’ve been to a library in the last year on one hand. However I can’t say I wouldn’t go if, I had more time. I’m not much of a reader. But when I do have time. My choices are simple, I can either go online and find an ebook. I could buy a book from an online or offline retailer. My last option would be to go to the library. Which of these three options are free? Well legally and technically only one, the library. Yes, I know there are online libraries. But let’s not go there. The best place to find books and media free is your local library. Librarians, don’t worry about your job being replaced by the net.

ENCYCLOPEDIA

Encyclopedias, I can agree with being nearly dead. I haven’t used an encyclopedia since I was in grade school. You don’t see many sales people for encyclopedias anymore. As much free content available for online. Why would you want to pay for an expensive multiple-volume set of static information? The only response I have is, if you’re wanting a record of a time period. Most internet encyclopedias are dynamic. They’re always changing, as the world changes. But I can only see this for historical reference. My cousin CJ, who is a history buff, he collects encyclopedias. However, I’m not completely sure, why he does. For most people, I would say they’re dead.

PRIVACY

I think this one is a given. There is no room for privacy online. Some information is leaked out. But a lot of private information is given knowingly. One can not be too careful. Before you sign up for something, tweet something, Facebook something or etc, ask yourself “What am I giving out about myself? Am I giving out information that could harm me or my family?” Just some thoughts to ponder. Everything you do and everything you say is indexed. I don’t mean to scare anyone. But it’s the truth. Check your social networking privacy settings and watch what you say or give out.

Final thoughts. The internet is a great tool and force. However it hasn’t completely replaced all of these things. Some people will be late adopters of technology. That’s part of why some of these things still exists. I hope I haven’t offended anyone with this post. I just wanted to state my opinion on this article. Again, the internet has changed the way we do things, not killed old means. Feel free to comment your thoughts.

What?

I’m sure you’re wondering how in the world, could these things all come together. Sit back, I promise you it will make sense shorty. I had a hard time deciding what to do my post on night. So I thought I would write about some of the things I’ve been playing around with. I am a man of many hobbies. The cold weather makes for a perfect time to play with some of my toys.

For my birthday, Heather’s parents got me my first Star Wars LEGO set ever! The Star Wars Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter LEGO Set. Tonight we ripped open the box and put it together. Page by page, Heather and I took turns picking parts and putting the set together. We felt gitty, like little kids. Unlike other LEGO sets that I’m use to, it has many unique pieces. Being of a dark side (it’s Darth Vader, we’re talking about) most of the pieces are black, dark gray and light gray. We found some interesting surprises.

“You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out!”

Well for one. We didn’t know that it can shoot stuff. On the page where you assemble the firing mechanisms it has a warning label. Heather bet me to saying “You’ll shoot your eye out!” As you can see I had to post the picture from the instructions. I think it’s pretty self explanatory. Another surprise was the fact there is a place to store Darth Vader’s light saber. Well it wasn’t too much of a surprise for me. I saw it on the box. New lesson learned. If ya wanta be surprised when putting LEGOs together, don’t look at the box first.

Final thoughts.

After the 200+ piece assembly was complete we flew it around a few times. However it kinda came apart when we were seating mini-figure Darth Vader. I could see someone who plays with it a lot would get kinda frustrated. However I’m not going to say it’s just a model. It’s a toy too! To some, it’s a collectible. After Vader was seated we rebuilt the bottom of the TIE fighter and proceeded another test fire of the lasers. Long, long ago… Ok, I better stop here. I can see the non-Star Wars fans started to leave the blog now. Moving on to the The Biggest Loser Update!

The Biggest Loser Update

As you know. We’re working to better ourselves. Tonight I had my second session with Jillian and my on screen counterpart. We worked through another 7 minute warm-up. We only did 2 circuits tonight. It was about 20 minutes. The game introduced another move to my training. The wood chopping exercise. You make a swinging motion with Wii-mote like you’re chopping wood. I was pretty good at that one. I also had to do lunges as well. I did feel the burn, as some people say. I’m just glad for three things, one there are breath and water breaks. Two, there is a cool down stage after-wards. Three during the circuits there are mini-breaks, shake off periods. Not to mention the after-effects of making it through the program. The weight loss!

I noticed something else about the game feedback. As you’re doing the exercises it will reward you with points. It’s like instant gratification for doing the task correctly. I haven’t completed an official second weigh in. Not sure how I can force it to do a weigh in. But I jumped on Wii Fit and it said I gain .7 pound. I try to keep in mind that two things can cause results like this. One, generally people vary anywhere between 1 to 2 pounds day to day. Second I could be building muscle. Let’s hope more for number two. I could use all the extra muscle I can get. Well I guess that’s enough for tonight. I’ll keep you posted on how things are going! Thanks for all the support and comment love from the last few posts!

One word “Exhausted.” It best describes how I’m feeling right now. Last night was the first night of The Bigggest Loser Wii Game at our place. I started a new profile on the game labeled “Matt” and input my age, height and weight. Then I chose my trainer (Jillian), I think she’s very tough on the contestants. Then I selected a four week training plan as a beginner. In this time period I’m aiming to lose at least 10 pounds. Little goals at first and then I’ll work my way up.

After I got my profile out of the way, I decided to do the warm-up. The warm-up did a great job of preparing me for exercise. It’s basically a six minute series of stretching and loosening exercises. At first I wasn’t going to do it. But then I remembered the importance of stretching from high school PE class. Most of the stuff I did during this phase was very basic. It reminded me a lot of what was taught in high school PE and health class. I was very glad that I did the warm-up. Because nothing else could have prepared me better for the next thirty minutes.

Moving on to the main exercise. At first I was like “Yea, this isn’t much different than Wii Fit.” Then I realized it was nothing like Wii Fit. The exercises are completely planned out in circuits. My character on the screen worked outwith me, right along side Jillian. They showed me everything for a few brief seconds and then kicked up. Literally. Each circuit began with marches to get your heart rate up. Then we did squats with kicks exercises. Not to mention round-house kicks. The hardest for me, were the floor exercises. They were very simple, lay on your back and lift your butt up. Some of the exercises reminded me much of Tae Bo, mainly the kicking and squats. I would start to slow down, only to get harassed by Jillian (just like the show). Near the end, my lower back kept hurting. But the short breaks between circuits helped out.

After the 30 minute main exercise, I moved on to the cool down stage. Again at first I didn’t think it was that important. I just wanted to go sit down on the couch and just crash. But I found the post-exercise stretching incredible. Some of my aches and pains went away. It really did cool me down. I was sweating like I’ve sweat before. Ok, I know that sounds gross. But you get the picture.

I enjoy the constant feedback from the game. I like how Virtual Jillan and Bob provide feedback the whole way. Based off your inputs through the Wii controls, it has a sense if you’re doing it right or not. It’s almost like they’re playing bad cop/good cop. One minute Jillian will knock ya down and then Bob will pick ya up. They encourage you to drink water during your breaks. I thought was very informative. A lot of people forget to drink water while exercises. It’s very easy to get caught up in working out, forget to drink water and then get dehydrated. The plans are customizable. But I’ve decided to see how the basic program works first. Keep in mind, I have little workout training experience beyond Wii Fit, walking, jogging and running for exercise. So you could say, I’m learning as I go. I’ll post up more in later posts and keep you informed on how it’s going.

This year, Matt and I have pledged to each other that we will both be losing weight. We are both in need of losing some hefty pounds, and are going about this in several ways. If you watch The Biggest Loser at all, you’ll know that tonight was the season premiere. Although we haven’t actually been able to watch an entire season together so far, we plan to this season. And while watching, we are also participating! Matt and I will be working out using the Wii Fit program, Wii Fit Plus, The Biggest Loser Wii Game, and when it warms up a bit, we will be walking and jogging as well (working up to the jogging, of course!) We will also be dieting, and trying out the recipes on www.biggestloser.com as well as on the game!

While watching the season premiere of The Biggest Loser, we were also made aware of a great community outreach program, called the Pound for Pound Challenge. This is a great program where people pledge to lose weight, and for each pound they pledge, one pound of food will be donated to their local community food shelter. In our case, the God’s Pantry Food Bank in Lexington, KY!

In addition, I will also be working out at my workplace, the Curves for Women here in Richmond. We hope to start this year getting healthier, and we encourage all of our readers to do the same!

Updated: 01/09/2010

I’m sure from time to time you’ve passed a car with some. They seem like they’re everywhere. Family Car Stickers. You know the little stick figure decals that represent your family. A mommy and daddy, stick parents usually followed up by stick kids. Sometimes seen with pets as well. Ah. the American Dream. Husband, wife, 2.5 kids and a dog right?

I’m not a parent yet (will be quite a while too). But I’m a big fan of them the decals. I think they’re pretty cute. I could go ahead and just stick my wife and myself on our car. But I think we’re going to wait, till we at least have pets. Don’t want our stick couple looking lonely on the back of our Malibu. Although, I’m sure we could count the doggies at Heather’s parents. Sweet Pups!

I’ve even seen some interesting combination of the figures. Sometimes they’ll stick-on grandma and grandpa. I’ve even seen step-parents (one of the parents crossed out and replaced). Some families would take up a whole rear glass I’m sure (especially southern redneck families, hey I’m from the south). Have you seen any interesting family car stick families? If so, comment up! If you don’t have a set. You can find them cheap on Amazon. Don’t let your back glass go bare!

No luck yet. On finding the step parent one. I may have to post a photoshop’d version of what I saw. However I did find a decal for people who don’t like family car stickers! The caption reads “No one cares about your stick figure family!” You can find these as well below.

Update: 01/09/2010

Since I’ve been unsuccessful in finding the a photo of the step-parent family car sticker. I decided to recreate it! So here ya go!

Happy New Year! The dawn of a new year is here. A fresh start, as some people say. I’m excited to start working on some resolutions I have. We all have something we would like to improve or change. In coming posts I would like to revel some of these resolutions, I have for myself.

Last night we had our New Year’s Eve party with some friends. Not only did we celebrate New Years, but also my birthday! My wife and our friend Catie put together some snacks. We had some Chex Muddy Buddies, little smokies, Buffalo Wild Wings, chocolate fondue and a bunch of other goodies. The wings were gone fairly quickly. But everything else was munched on throughout the night.

We played a few board games. The guys and girls battled it out in a game of Battle of the Sexes. Believe it or not, the guys won. It’s very rare that we do. I mean, how are we suppose to know about “girly stuff.” Not to mention the questions pertaining to New Kids On the Block. We’re men. Anyways, Battle of the Sexes was very fun. We also played a quick round of Buzz Words. The girls beat us to a pulp. You could call it “Teamwork”. I would call it “Ganging Up.”

After that, the guys spent most of the night playing Age of Empires II. I can’t believe how a game that’s over 10 years old, can still be so much fun. I guess it never gets old. The mini-LAN party was setup on the kitchen table with three laptops. It looked like a geek-athon. But many little virtual lives were lost in our quest for each-other’s kings. Alright enough Geek’n.

The night ended shortly after watching the ball fall on Dick Clark’s New Years Eve. Everyone went home safely and all was well! Thanks to our friends Catie and David for hosting! I hope your New Years was as grand as ours!