Marco?

She shyly enters the space looking around to see anyone is there, if anyone is left. It feels cold, empty and cavernous.

"Hello?"

"I am back."

The Many Sides of Melody

By day, I am a corporate and employee communicator. By night, I write and maintain two corporate news blogs for a technology firm out of Albuquerque. In my spare time, I read, cook and entertain. Spare time? What is that?

A glimpse into one of my other lives:

Access Innovations Improves Indexing Accuracy of the CDC’s Mining Safety and Health Thesaurus

Access Innovations, Inc. is pleased to announce the completion of an automatic semantic tagging rulebase for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Mining Safety and Health Thesaurus (MSHT). The new, state-of-the-art system increases indexing accuracy to 93 percent and provides greater access to the mining safety and health database, thereby aiding researchers and statisticians in improving safety for the mining industry.

“Access Innovations is glad to offer our services to such an important research outlet,” says Access Innovations president Marjorie M.K. Hlava. “The Data Harmony M.A.I. system will help immensely with term disambiguation and will make data tagged against the Mining Safety and Health Thesaurus findable and discoverable to the full depth and breadth of the thesaurus.”

The MSHT contains terms related to safety techniques and devices, workplace hazards, and miner ailments and conditions associated with different types of mining and methods. The interconnected terms and concepts required precise disambiguation by the Access Innovations team to further enable semantic search.

“The mining industry, like many other areas, is full of industry jargon, which made this project very interesting,” remarks project manager Bob Kasenchak. “Many natural language words have different context and meaning in mining terminology. For example, ‘damp’ refers to ‘gases’ or ‘fumes’ instead of ‘slightly wet.’”

Research of mining industry resources and CDC content guided the construction of the rule base. After creation of a foundation of just 300 rules, the team then utilized the Test M.A.I. function of Data Harmony’s patented MAIstro platform to identify and refine the concepts to produce accurate indexing.

“It’s important for each thesaurus to reflect the content that will be applied to it,” Kasenchak says. “The rulebases, too, should be constructed with great care to reflect the linguistic usage patterns found in mining research and data so that content can be easily found accurately and consistently.”

The Mining Safety and Health Thesaurus is maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention via Data Harmony’s MAIstro software platform. Access Innovations will provide ongoing software support and looks forward to a continued partnership with the CDC.

About Access Innovations – www.accessinn.com, www.dataharmony.com, www.taxodiary.comFounded in 1978, Access Innovations has extensive experience with Internet technology applications, master data management, database creation, thesaurus/taxonomy creation, and semantic integration. The Access Innovations Data Harmony software includes automatic indexing, thesaurus management, an XML Intranet System (XIS), and metadata extraction for content creation developed to meet production environment needs. Data Harmony is used by publishers, governments, and corporate clients throughout the world.

About the Office of Mine Safety and Health Research– http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/index.htmlFounded in 1910 by Congressional act as the U.S. Bureau of Mines, the mission of the Office of Mine Safety and Health Research (OMSHR) is to eliminate fatalities, injuries, and illnesses through research and prevent. UMSHR is a division of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), which is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Repurposing

I love how this latest project came out. I found these wooden shutters and they were worn but I liked the patina. I considered separating them and actually painting one and leaving the other as is, hang them vertically and put vintage door knobs for hooks.

Then I opened them up to clean them and was blown away with how great the wood looked on what was obviously the interior face. After a good cleaning with Liquid Gold, it was quite the beauty. I knew instantly it had to stay together and because it folded perfectly, it was going to be a shelf.

After adding vintage glass doorknobs and black brackets - voila!

I posted it on my Facebook photo album for my shop and went to leave to take them there when a friend/colleague claimed them before I even left. Apparently I need to find more shutters.

Decisions, Decisions

Women spend way too much time worrying about their hair. I know men run a comb through it, maybe put some product in, and then walk away. Why is that? Why are we so obsessed with having a good hair day?

I know I feel better when I think my hair looks good. I walk taller (if that is possible) and feel better about myself. Why do we put so much power into something that literally drives us crazy most of the time?

Over the past few years I have had varying styles (and some colors), but I never seem happy with any of them.

So peeps, help me. Which of these do you like best? Which looks better on me? And which one makes me look like Jessica Alba?

Creative Writing

I love having the blackboard wall in our downstairs bathroom. It is the guest bath and especially after parties, I relish going in to read all the notes my guests have left me.

Sometimes I draw things on it for the holidays or leave love notes for my hubby, but writing on a chalkboard always looks sloppy.

Until now...

I learned this on Pinterest. Where else?

Getting Crafty

Maybe it is the spring weather, maybe it is because of our flea market trip Friday, or maybe it is because I have been spending too much time on Pinterest, but I got crafty this weekend.

I am not good at the before photos, sorry. But after, I have covered.

Spray paint is my new best friend. Find objects that are interesting, structurally. Ignore the surface color or finish. And you have brand new room décor.

This particular vase was navy, green and gold lacquer finish - bleck! Joe Edmiston disparaged it when I purchased it, but I knew its hidden beauty and value.

This little guy was a faded, ghastly grayish-green. But now...

This was your typical country décor, wooden red apple. Ha! Now it is funky shelf décor.

I have had these sconces for years. They were a Southern Living At Home Product. Gold, cream, stripes, metallic - definitely time for an upgrade.

So this venture encouraged me to be brave and create art....from scratch.

Liquid watercolors, clear glue, and salt resulted in this.

I learned lots and will do it again, but I am pleased with my first try. I actually had a pattern in mind and I see it, but not sure anyone else will. Let me know if you think you know what is....is supposed to be.

Talk Derby To Me

Tieing Up Easter

I have seen this project on Pinterest for awhile now. I love the end result but had doubts at truly how easy it would be. Would I waste time and money on something that I would just throw away in the end? The blog I chose to follow their procedures even had me doubting up to the end. The questions from other readers brought up points I hadn't thought of and also made me realize I might be in the higher level of intelligence among the readers. One reader actually asked if they could use plastic eggs? I. kid. you. not.

So here is my journey to accomplish my final product.

First, this is the site I referred to for guidance.

Let's talk ties. Unless you have just been dying (pun totally intended) to glean your husband's closet and get rid of all his atrocious ties, visit your local Goodwill. At a $1.50 each, you have your choice of dozens and dozens of ties.

The ties you select must be silk - 100% silk. There are tags on the ties that tell you. If there are no tags, don't take a chance.

The pattern is key. I didn't really realize how much until afterwards so please learn from my journey. Pick the brightest, loudest ties. Ties you would never wear or purchase for someone. Those have good potential to transfer a nice pattern.

Here are some pics of the ties I chose and the results so you can see my point.

 

These first two were the same tie, but I turned it inside out for the second egg. Not all ties have such a bold inside.

 

This one was by far the best. The colors were a deep red and olive green, not atrocious at all. But apparently the small patterns come across better.

 

Worst one. Dark, muted colors that have too large of a pattern.

 

Not bad. Again the intricate patterns work well. And reds always come through the best.

 

Another good example of the right kind of pattern/color.

 

And another.

 

The yellow on this one didn't come through much, but the patterns did.

Okay, you have your ties. Let's talk pans. The pan you choose to boil them in is important. Stainless steel or enamel work best. Aluminum will get pitted with the acidy vinegar and non-stick, well, it might flake it off.

I used enamel. Thank you, Becki.

Cut the threads that are holding them together up the back and remove the wool lining (keep it). At first I was cutting off the V-point but then I realized it can be used, you  just have to trim out the satin lining. Your trimming and cutting do not have to be neat. We are boiling it after all.

Cut a piece of tie about 5x7 and wrap your uncooked eggs like a present. Roll it and fold the ends over. Then use the wool lining to wrap it up like a ball of yarn. Then secure with rubber bands.

 

 

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

 

Sometimes I can get two eggs per tie, depending on how neat it cuts apart. If you do get two, you need some other outer wrapping as you should use the entire wool lining for one egg. I used socks that had no pair. I gave those lonesome suckers something to do instead of sitting on top of my dresser collecting dust.

 

I had my water warming up while I was doing this so when I reached six, it was boiling. Six was what I could fit in my pan. You may be able to do more at a time.

 

Boil with 2 T. of vinegar for 11-12 minutes. Set aside to cool and reuse your water for the next batch - I added a little more vinegar.

 

After they have cooled enough to handle, unwrap your little presents.

 

Quality

Okay, I am going to rant. Quality seems to be less important to most people than it used to be. This applies to customer service, products, and even relationships. It reminds me of that saying: Good Cheap Fast - Pick Two.

I just want people to care. I want to them be aware and show some concern that the quality of something is lacking or absolutely obsolete. I don't feel like I what I want is so challenging or unique.

Just put out a little effort and give a shit. How hard is that?

Dropping In

Literally.

I know I vanished into thin air. Disappeared like virginity on prom night. You can blame Facebook and my need for immediate gratification. You see I can post wise words there and within seconds, yes, mere seconds, I get feedback affirming my thoughts are valid and worthy to be launched into the universe.

Here, I publish great works of literature and wait, long periods of time, sometimes forever, before I get a peep from any of you...peeps.

Oh, you came here for food topics and photos of my culinary creations? Check out my Facebook page.

Bwahahaha!