Web Pierat » PieRat Eccentricities

WI 2nd Grader Represents with Pirate Google Doodle

Jill Kocher — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:52:45 +0000

I may live in Illinois as a Flatlander at present (and have previously for several brief periods of early childhood) but I spent most of my life between Colorado, California and Wisconsin. That, plus the fact that the Web Pierat loves all things searchtastic and piratical makes my especially fond of the doodle that second grader Dylan Hoffman of Caledonia, WI, created to win this year’s U.S. Doodle 4 Google National Contest. His doodle “Pirate Times” is featured on the U.S. Google homepage today. For his artistic efforts he’ll receive a $30,000 college scholarship, a Chromebook computer and a $50,000 technology grant for his school. Congrats, Dylan, and keep towing that pirate line. Those ninjas are sneaky buggers

Happy Easter from the Pierat [Pics]

Jill Kocher — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 11:13:00 +0000

Easter is perhaps not the most piratical holiday, but with the help of a Sharpie we made do. Cheers, everyone, and happy Easter to ye all. Now get back to work, you lot!

Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock, Coffee

Jill Kocher — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 12:52:11 +0000

My pal PJ Fusco, SEO expert and co-lover of all things geeky, gave me the best birthday present ever. A coffee mug for my office freaturing the intricate diagram of the game Rock, Paper, Scissors, Lizard, Spock. The game was originally invented in the early part of the century by Sam Kass and Karen Bryla, but you probably know it now from its cameos on CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory.” God, I love that show.

Here’s the classic clip of Sheldon explaining the game’s rules at lightning speed. One day I aspire to be able to do the same.

Scissors cut paper
Paper covers rock
Rock crushes lizard
Lizard poisons Spock
Spock smashes scissors
Scissors decapitate lizard
Lizard eats paper
Paper disproves Spock
Spock vaporizes rock
Rock crushes scissors

Web Pierat and First Mate at Lake Superior

Jill Kocher — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:38:02 +0000

On our vacation this week to the hinterlands of northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s upper peninsula, First Mate Brian and I stopped by Lake Superior to take in the sunset. As I hunted the shoreline for treasure and arty photo opportunities, Brian drew me a lovely effigy. I knew he was up to something because I paused now and then to capture the sunset’s progress and his silhouette. I’m a lucky girl.

Aarrgghh, Me Google Doodle Is a Pirate Turkey!

Jill Kocher — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:41:29 +0000

I was underwhelmed by Google’s Thanksgiving doodle … UNTIL I played with the personalization animations. Very cool, Google! Did you know that if you click the wing you get a slot-machine-esque changing of features that settles into a random configuration. And for the first time there’s a link to share your doodle to G+ (nice move, makes perfect sense) as well as a button to get the link to share to your other favorite social network or email around or scribble it on a slip of paper and stash it in the hidden drawer where you keep your toenail clippings. Hey, I’m not judging, everyone has their thing. I love the push pins in the corner of the doodle, too, because who among us doesn’t remember making a turkey from the tracing of your hand and decorating it? Of course, my favorite turkey doodle is a pirate! Check out my Pierat pirate turkey, make your own favorite version, and have a fabulous Thanksgiving!

UPDATE: Ohmigod I’m so excited! An anonymous commenter tipped me off to the all-black-feathers trick! Make all the feathers black and you get a KABOOM full-blown pirate with five extra accessories and a flapping beak: a parrot, captain’s hat, hook, treasure chest and giant black beard! SO Happy! Thanks for commenting, “Me!”

Our Geeky Engagement

Jill Kocher — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 13:49:05 +0000

On Friday 11-11-11, my geeky love Brian R. Brown proposed, the digital way. The Web Pierat well soon have a most seaworthy First Mate.

We were having a casual diner at one of our favorite local restaurants, Williams Street Public House, the first place we ate when we moved to Crystal Lake, IL. At the end of our meal, Brian took a picture of me and daughter Hazel with our gorgeous dessert to post to Facebook, and asked me to check my phone to make sure that it had uploaded to Facebook OK.

Instead of the photo, he had posted this amazingly eloquent and moving note asking me to marry him. Naturally, after reading with some slight disbelief and happy shock, I said yes. Emphatically. Of course we didn’t get a photo of ourselves in all the hubbub, so a photo of the ring will have to do. It’s beautifully simple and classic with a squared-off bottom so it won’t spin. He did very well.

Even better than the quality of the gorgeous ring, which he built himself online from scads of loose stones and settings on BlueNile.com, is that it is 1.01 carats. And guess what a 101 server header status signifies?

101 Switching Protocols
The server understands and is willing to comply with the client’s request, via the Upgrade message header field for a change in the application protocol being used on this connection. The server will switch protocols to those defined by the response’s Upgrade header field immediately after the empty line which terminates the 101 response.
– http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec10.html

So basically, our engagement is a change in protocol. Perfect!

I had been hoping for a geeky proposal some day, and Brian delivered in spades. I’m the luckiest woman, to have found my geeky soul mate and to know that I am his. He’s my knight in shining armor and the smile on my face.

Happy Halloween from Web Pierat [COSTUMES]

Jill Kocher — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:38:34 +0000

A merry All Hallow’s Eve to ye all. I couldn’t manage a true Pierat costume, so I settled for a bonny good pirate costume instead. My daughter Hazel, 8, went as a bewitching devil. Ah, but the weekend’s festivities were but a precursor to the Beggar’s Night. A safe and mischievous All Hallow’s Eve to ye all.

My Un-Digital Life: Gardening

Jill Kocher — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:18:50 +0000

I’m going to take a break from blogging about SEO and Android and social media to talk about something that feeds my soul: gardening. All day long I sit at my computer and collect data, analyze data, write content, research links, and produce nothing physical. It takes a surprising toll on my sense of accomplishment, even when the results are great. Gardening helps fill that need for physical toil and reward.

I’m fortunate to live on an acre of land in Crystal Lake, IL, with lots of different areas of shade and sun, great soil and poor, so I have a lot of opportunities to create gardens that feature different types of plants. In my digital life I look for patterns and rules and guidelines to navigate the rocky waters of SEO. Well, it’s the same with gardening.

Plants have patterns and rules that need to be followed to produce the best results, just like SEO. And as with SEO, if something you’ve tried isn’t working it’s easy enough to tweak it and try something else. Just dig it up and plant it somewhere it is likely to do better. Or divide it. Or shade it. Or remove the shading overgrowth.

Now that it’s Fall, there’s less to do in my garden besides mulching, cleaning up spent foliage, collecting seed, planting Fall bulbs for Spring blooms and trying to get a last few hardy plants in the ground before the hard frost. And enjoying my efforts. These are my favorite Fall views of my gardens for the Fall Color Project 2011.

Floppy Drive “Imperial March” Is Pure Geeky Joy

Jill Kocher — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 21:05:14 +0000

Star Wars + antiquated technology + an obsessive drive to create = the “Imperial March” played on floppy drives. Don’t believe me? I find your lack of faith disturbing.

I’ve never been so happy in my entire life. Two floppy disk drives grinding out a melody of chirps and buzzes in perfect mimicry of Lord Vader’s chilling theme. Thanks to YouTube’s sh4dowww90 for the video and accompanying explanation.

Talk Like a PieRat Day

Jill Kocher — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:23:06 +0000

Today is, of course, Talk Like a Pirate Day. On September 19, geeks the world over begin to talk, write and code like pirates. Those misguided folks who identify instead with ninjas have no day, since ninjas are known more for their stealth that their colorful language.

Being a PieRat myself, I have no official day (yet). And my language, while frequently colorful, includes more instances of “canonicalization” than “argh” or “shiver me timbers.” All the same, I do adore Talk Like a Pirate Day.

These are just a few of the ways I celebrate this and every piratical day.

Me ship: The PieRat Prius. Known for a short while as Tortuga (Spanish for “turtle” and also the island of piratical gluttony in “Pirates of the Caribbean”), when we moved to Illinois I gave it a PieRat vanity plate. Ironically, it’s also a special “Prevent Violence” plate with a dove on it, the funds from which support programs that prevent violence in Illinois. Blackbeard would not be impressed, methinks.

Me flag: I sail under Henry Every‘s Jolly Roger. It’s less aggressive than the front facing skulls and I didn’t want to scare my daughter who’s a bit squeamish about skeletons. Plus there’s the nice earring and do-rag. Tres chic for a pirate. I did try to fly this flag from my antenna, but sadly me mizzenmast wasn’t man enough to handle the drag.

Me signature phrase:

The next bilge rat to 302 walks the plank!

Me first mate: Gotta love a man who wears the Jolly Roger proudly on his cuffs in honor of the day. Even if they’re do depict Edward England‘s flag instead of the Henry Every. I understand, there aren’t many choices in piratical cufflinks these days, piracy being more of a fashion statement in the US than an actual profession. Though some may disagree…

Me proud beauty: Hazel rather prefers Batman to pirates, but at least it’s the right colors. I’ll have to keep working on her.

Me favorite celebrity pirate: I know it’s trite, but I do love Captain Jack Sparrow. The worst pirate you’ve ever heard of … ah yes, but you have heard of him. Is there anything Johnny Depp can’t do?

Me favorite drink: Mint cucumber cooler with rum, of course. But really anything goes with rum — lime coke is quite nice, any juice. I’m not so much for swigs from the bottle, thank you. Of course I do like a nice bottle of red, and I’m a sucker for girltinis. Cosmo anyone?