Pots Party

[EarthMother]

My daughter arrived back from her semester in Italy right before the Holidays and it was so wonderful to see her again. But I was fortunate (and a technology geek) that we were able to stay in close touch with a variety of web video conference programs.

The last one we found together is something called MEBEAM.COM -- it's free and required no software to be installed, configured, or downloaded on to our computers. She has a mac and I have a vista laptop and it worked seamlessly on both of our systems.

So I was thinking wouldn't it be nice to have a POTS PARTY! With mebeam, you can have up to 16 people in a live free video chat. I've never done it before, but it sounded like a fun experiment. (Oh, if you do check out the website, don't click on "random room" ... some people have an odd sense about what is appropriate on video. ) But the room we would create would be just for us and it would only be open while we were there.

So, if anyone is interested let me know and I'll try and figure out a day and time zone that works ... and we can have a POTS PotLuck!

Happy New Year everyone!

~EM

[Megan]

I think I would enjoy that a lot!

Meg

[UnicornLuvr]

That does sound like fun!!!! although, my computer is a dinosaur!! lol i would probably be a bit behind everyone! haha

[ladyt]

hi

sounds great.... never taked to others whit dys, exept on forums... but I am a diansour when it comes to internett and computers and stuff so..... and living in eourope i gess i am on a bitt difrent time sone than most of u... but having insomnia i gess i could spend my waking night hours on compunter insted of in bed..

[corina]

that would be fun!!! if i remember well, we ve been talking about a virtual party before and what everyone would "bring" (it might be years ago and more in phantasy tnan in a room like you are suggesting). let me know if and when the party will be!!!

take care,

corina : )

[shadesofgrey49]

Neato I want in!!

[Sophia3]

hm...don't have a web cam but can see how this would be fun.

[Shimoda]

Any chance you could just use a headset with no video feed...or do i need to dish out and get a videocam?

[EarthMother]

I just checked and mebeam.com will work if you only have a mic and no webcam, but it will not let you enter the room if you do not have either.

So ok, let's give this a group think! ...

What days of the week work best?

Sunday -- Monday -- Tuesday -- Wednesday -- Thursday -- Friday -- Saturday

Preference for time of day?

Mornings, Afternoon, Evening

What timezone do you live in?

~EM

[Shimoda]

I just checked and mebeam.com will work if you only have a mic and no webcam, but it will not let you enter the room if you do not have either.

So ok, let's give this a group think! ...

What days of the week work best?

Sunday -- Monday -- Tuesday -- Wednesday -- Thursday -- Friday -- Saturday

Preference for time of day?

Mornings, Afternoon, Evening

What timezone do you live in?

~EM

A time on weekends would be nice, as I am at school. However, as long as it isnt before 1 on weekdays I should make it. (I'm going to buy a webcam I think)

[Sunfish]

great idea EM...sounds like fun & if the arranged day/ time works for me & my uncooperative body i'll definitely join in.

while my particularly high level of unreliability dictates that my availability/ preferences should be pretty low on the list of priority when it comes to scheduling, i'll ramble on a bit re: days & times wherein i'm more likely to be able to join the party, as well as mention days/ times that are definite neighs. as i know is the case for many of use, i come with the reminder that at any given time there lies the very real chance of my hitting a bad week/ day/ hour wherein, prior plans/ intentions aside, i'm rendered MIA (to put it nicely). with that said...

#1. as a general rule afternoons/ evenings/ nights tend to be better, i.e. anytime between 2pm & midnight. that said, i seem to be stuck in a wacky sleep cycle as of late wherein - generally though not always after pushing myself physically - i will sleep not only through the night but into & through most of the next day with NO possibility of forced arousal any earlier, i.e. it may be impossible for me to wake up any earlier than 7 or 8pm (after going to sleep around 11pm the night before). for better or for worse, this hibernation period of sorts is then often followed by my being quite widely awake from my 7/8pm wake-up all the way through the middle of the night & early morning hours & into the next day so that, in essence, after sleeping through one day all together, i then end up pulling an "all-nighter" of sorts. at this point i'm usually able to then stay up through that day wherein i'll go to sleep that night at what would be considered a normal hour. i used to fight this hibernation/ up-all-night cycle with a vengeance and was, without fail, not only consistently unsuccessful but increasingly frustrated; more recently i've decided to just go with it.

if this were my only issue (ha! don't i wish?!) such that it were the sole thing affecting my unreliability, inability to work/ volunteer/ make commitments, etc then it would of course be well worth further exploration into & resistance against the issue; in reality, however, while it is admittedly odd & not what i would choose/ recommend, in & of itself it is not making me/ my body/ my schedule any more unreliable/ unpredictable than is already the case such that - with my doctor's blessing & (to my surprise) encouragement - i'm now trying to go with the flow. so whether i'm still sleeping at 5pm or wide awake at 4am, aside from doing what i can to keep up with vital medical tasks (IVs, Abx, etc), i don't fight the ridiculously long periods of sleep and, on the other end of the spectrum, enjoy/ appreciate/ take advantage of times/ hours that i am relatively awake & alert (rather than waste them trying to force sleep).....even if it happens to be 3:30am. not ideal, but in the reality that is my life, certainly not the roughest thing to deal with and - with my doc's support/ encouragement as armor against my parents' comments/ faces - it is now much less of a stressor now that i'm not fighting it (aka the "fighting it" had, in essence, become more of a stressor than the issue itself). but anywhoo...how's that for a lengthy tangent?? (i've actually been meaning to post on the issue to see if any others have/ had similar scenarios so suppose that now i'll only have to copy/ paste these ramblings, add a question & voila)

bottom line as it relates to this post - yes, it does/ did actually relate - is that while the "mornings are bad, afternoons/ evenings/ nights are good" rule still often holds, there are some days wherein i don't enter the land of the living for even an hour and, conversely, every 7-10 days or so there's one day when i'm bright-eyed & bushy-tailed (minus the tail) through night & the wee morning hours into the dawn of a new day and, as such could in fact join in a party scheduled for an earlier time of day.

#2. re: specific days/ times that are better/ worse for me the few worth mentioning are as follows:

tuesday evenings, approx. 5:30-8:30pm or so, would very rarely work for me.

friday evenings - say 6pm on on for the sake of having something to say - are one time that i periodically have what borders on qualifying as a "social life" wherein, when contributing factors properly align (once-a-month meeting time, a good day for me, okay weather, accessible gathering place, etc), i occasionally have a shot at reclining on a couch other than my own at someone else's house to watch movies, play games, etc. all which to say that, while it would often be just fine, there are a few instances here & there wherein friday evenings aren't good for me .

monday late mornings/ early afternoons my home care nurse comes....currently biweekly, though has been more or less at times. aka between 11am & 1pm (some) mondays might not work (which, unless it's one of those wacky all-nighter days/ nights, means anytime before 1pm is out).

sundays late morning/ early afternoon i TRY to get to church whenever i possibly can, which - times i'm in hospital lock-up excluded - ends up averaging around 50%. not so grand by most standards but for me, especially after a year & a half wherein it was impossible for me to get there at all, not all that shabby. as such, when i'm lucky sundays from 10:30am to 12:30/1pm are bad (which, again outside of the wacky all-nighter gigs, means anytime before 12:30/1pm is a scratch).

so.....in summary - plethora of extraneous ramblings aside - afternoons/ evenings/ nights are generally the best bet EXCEPT many sundays & mondays before 12:30/1pm, tuesdays 5:30-8:30pm, & fridays after 6/7pm. other than my general underlying unreliability, any other time(s) would/ should usually work

lol. i love my propensity for spending WAY too much time/ energy on replies that should really take a few minutes & few lines. ah well. not a huge deal but too bad as the time/ energy would i'm sure be much better utilized in replies elsewhere. perhaps (hopefully) i at least give someone a laugh (at me, that is).

melissa

p.s. i'm in ohio, so EST (eastern standard time) for me.

p.p.s.for better or for worse, there's a high likelihood that my giant kitty (who thinks he is also part dog, part human, part divine, etc) would/ will also make an appearance on/ in any webcam event that ends up happening .

[corina]

hahaha sunfish, that would be fun the cat sneaking in! it might even be better on bad hair days??

to stay short: as you might know i'm in europe (timezone) and can't make any definite promises about being at the party (due to health and my strange sleepingt patterns, but how i would want to!!!) so i suggest you guys set up date and time and if i'm well enough I'LL BE THERE!!!!!

my hubby bought me a minilaptop for christmas (which i can proudly carry myself) which has a camera in it so that will be great fun!!! i also use it as my agenda, which is great as i can take it in my bag (which i bought especially to take the laptop and all my food and drinks ). em, if you're reading it is a pink bag of course!!!

well, this was going to be short, so i better be gone now and will be happy to hear whenever the party is!

love,

corina

(btw, do i need to put on my party hat???)

[Sophia3]

WOw, I am working on my morning coffee Melissa and MUST CONFESS I could not read all your post yet, lol, but I relate to the times you feel best or 'best for you' and the sleep issues. That's a subject for the main page and could be a website in itself.

i do not have a webcam but had access to a Flip Video for awhile and made video cards to send to a friend in LA..and at the end I would turn the camera around and get a couple cats on the video. They looked so disinterested at the time. But had the camera been on more than 2 minutes, and within kitty cat reach, they would've been curious. Cats or pets are great, aren't they?

My one black and white sleeps next to me while I do a blogtalkradio show and one night my other cat; was playing so much with a rattle toy in my room it was distracting (one of those fake mice that looks kind of real with a built in bean rattle) I had to say on the air for him to stop that, lol.

Have fun on your web party...wish I had a WEB Cam tho they usually get that digitized look if you move your face much. Be curious how it all works.

It's not for a party but are you with webcams aware of eyejot.com? You can use it to send one minute videos to friends for free. A girl I know uses it for business and for fun. So those of you that have one might want one to send to friends or family. Need a good quality camera though like Logistics..many cheap cams (built in or cheap cams) will break up on you...but just sit still as you talk amongst yourselves. I have seen many good ones and bad ones. Be curious to see how well you all "see each other"..and hear...course I know most come with a microphone.

Let me know how this video party goes. Just to get back on topic..least my rambling was shorter than Sunfish.

But it's always GREAT to see your name here, Melissa...will read your post after my coffee.