Birthday Celebration Words for Mom

A diversion from the usual technology post. Using Evernote I wrote these words for my mom's recent 90th birthday celebration.

Dear Gram, Mom, Aunt Marge, and Marge,

It is hard to put into words what you mean to your family and me. Although you are celebrating 90 years of a full life that is the envy of others, we recognize your life-long devotion to your family – children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. You are generous in so many ways – thoughtful gifts that you purchase, gifts of crafts or baked goods, and donations to church and charities. However, it is your gifts of love and time that are treasured by so many of us, certainly your family. Whether you lend an ear to our trials and tribulations, provide sage advice, or share the secrets of baking, we value the time you spend with us. By the way, how many of us have been have tasted mom's legendary chocolate candies or better yet received them as gifts?

You are a model for others who wish to live life to its fullest. Be it daily crossword puzzles, several games of Bridge each and every week, exchanging e-mail and playing Sudoku on your iMac, reading countless books and magazines, or your insatiable curiosity, we know from you some of the secrets to keeping an active and engaging mind. (It is never possible to tell a story within earshot of mom because you are going to have to repeat it for re-listening. Mom's curiosity and constantly wanting to know everything won't allow it otherwise.)

As usual there are stories, some that we won't be able to retell this afternoon. I was the most angelic and well-behaved of mom's four children so she spanked me little (tongue in cheek). Though I do remember a thrashing with the fly-swatter when at eight years old I tried to start a brush fire in the back yard. I will let the rest of my siblings provide the more entertaining tales. 

Because you are so constantly upbeat, it may surprise some to know that in 2 and 1/2 decades you underwent two knee replacement surgeries and three cancer surgeries, the most recent barely two months ago. Your strength, positive outlook on life, and faith helped you met each challenge head on, with relatively little effect on your daily life. In fact you went to Christmas Eve service less than one week after your last knee replacement and were buzzing around with energy and eating a hearty meal the evening of your last cancer surgery!  

Mom, thank you for your love, thank you for your generosity, thank you for your courage, thank you for raising and continuing to mentor the four of us, thank you for your inspiration, and thank you for being the greatest mom and gram in the world!

Love your son Joe

Inserting Video into Google Sites Pages

There are a number of ways that you can you add videos to your Google site: use a simple hyperlink to an external page that includes the video (e.g. Vimeo), insert a YouTube video, and insert a Google Docs video. Let's take a look at the last two. 

YouTube

You can easily search for and insert YouTube videos into your Google site by embedding the video into a page. If you plan to create your own YouTube video the limit is 15 minutes by default.  (For steps on how to increase this limit go to http://support.google.com/youtube/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=71673 .)

• For example. Go to http://youtube.com and type Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda in the Search box. 
• Click on the video thumbnail to open the YouTube page.
• Copy the web address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVaPr1zu3lE.
• Open your Google Sites page and click where you want to embed the video.
• Choose Insert > Video > YouTube.
• Paste the web address into the URL box. Check Include border. Check Include title and enter a descriptive name if you wish to title the video.

• Click the Save button to insert the video.

• Click to insert the cursor to the right of the video.
• You should always attribute your source. Press the return or enter key and then choose Edit > Paste to insert the originating URL of the YouTube video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVaPr1zu3lE

Google Drive Videos

Uploading Your Recording to Google Drive

You can upload video recordings to your Google Drive and then insert the video into a Google Sites page. For more information refer to Video Files in Google Drive. There are a number of advantages that Google Drive videos have over YouTube. With a Drive quota of 5GB it is possible to upload longer videos such as 45 minutes in length, although compressed .mp4 is recommended before uploading. Google Drive sync allows organization of videos in the Google Drive folder on your computer, which are then updated in your Drive share on Google's servers. Videos in Google Drive can be shared with groups and users in your domain when public viewing is not preferred. 

• Log on to Gmail with your Google Apps account. 
• Click the Drive link in the top left menu bar to display the Google Drive home page with a directory of any files you may have. 
• To the right of the RED Create button click the Upload button and choose Files. (Depending on your browser you may also use Drag and Drop as shown in the Appendix.)

• Locate your video file and click the Open button. 
• You will be prompted to Upload your video. Keep the default settings: Convert documents and Confirm settings before each upload.   

• Click the Start upload button. 

Waiting for your Video Upload

• Wait patiently. A video can take several minutes to upload, depending on file size. The upload time for a 15 minute video may take up to 60 minutes depending on Internet bandwidth.  

The bottom strip displays the status of your Google Docs storage

 Share Your Video 

• Click the uploaded file (e.g. screen_reader.mp4) to open your recording into the Google Drive video viewer.
• If you want your Google Drive videos to display on your Google Sites web site for viewing on the Internet, then choose Public on the Web.  
• Click the Save button. 
• Click Done.  

Embed Your Video

• Choose Insert Video > Google Docs Video 
• If necessary scroll to click on your video.  
• Click the Select button.  
• When prompted choose the display options. In this example the title was changed to Distraction Free Reading.  

• Click the Save button to embed your video as shown below.  Distraction Free Reading 

Appendix

Upload Your Recording to Google Docs – Drag and Drop 

If your browser is Firefox, Safari, or Firefox, then try Drag and Drop as an alternative to uploading your video to Google Docs.

• Log on to Gmail with your Google Apps account. 
• Click the Documents link in the top left menu bar. 
• Locate your video in the Videos folder. Drag your video to your Google Drive window.  
• You will be prompted to Upload your video. Keep the default settings: Convert documents and Confirm settings before each upload.  
• Click the Start upload button.

Inserting Audio into Google Sites Pages

Google does not provide a direct way to insert or embed audio into Google Sites as it does with video. Playing audio requires uploading the sound file and the use of one or two gadgets depending on your audience and the length of your audio recording. Audio can be uploaded to an external web site or uploaded as an attachment to your Google Sites page.  Next an audio player gadget is inserted, which links to the audio file's URL. The following techniques are especially useful for developers of personal e-portfolios to add evidence of their learning through audio recordings. 

Scenario 1: Google Audio Player (Flash)

Advantage: loads and plays audio quickly and plays consistently across all browsers
Disadvantage: Flash player that will not work on most mobile devices such as an iPad or iPhone.  

• Create or go to the web page where you will insert the audio.
• At the bottom of the page click Add files and browse for the audio file.
• Click Open to attach the file. It may take a few moments to upload depending on the file's size.
• Refer to the figure below. Control-click (Mac) or Right-click (Windows) on the download arrow icon and choose Copy Link Address. This address will be copied to the Google Audio Player.

• Locate the point on your page where the audio is to be embedded and choose Insert > More gadgets ...
• Click Public in the left sidebar.
• In the Search box type in quotes "Google Audio Player".
• Click the Search icon to bring up the player(s). 
• Click once to select the Use Google Audio Player to play .mp3 file.

• Next click the BLUE Select button to bring up the gadget settings.
• Click in the mp3 files to play box and remove the entire URL.
• Click in this now empty box. Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) and choose Paste. This will paste the address that you copied from your audio attachment. 
• Backspace out the ?attredirects string of text up to the audio file suffix (e.g. mp3). See below for an example. The part to erase is crossed out. 

https://sites.google.com/a/elmira.edu/it/gapps
/gsites/sitesaudio/nzoku_reading.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1

• Apply settings as described on the figure below.

• Click the OK button to apply the settings. To play examples click the link below.  

Examples of audio inserted into Google Sites.

Scenario 2: Embed Music (No Flash)

Advantage: Loads quickly and plays on mobile devices.  
Disadvantage: Larger audio files load slowly on web pages (up to 1 or 3 minutes) using Google Chrome and Firefox. 

• Create or go to the web page where you will insert the audio.
• At the bottom of the page click Add files and browse for the audio file.
• Click Open to attach the file. It may take a few moments to upload depending on the file's size.
• Refer to the figure below. Control-click (Mac) or Right-click (Windows) on the download arrow icon and choose Copy Link Address. This address will be copied to the Embed Music player.

• Locate the point on your page where the audio is to be embedded and choose Insert > More gadgets ...
• Click Public in the left sidebar.
• In the Search box type in quotes "Embed Music".
• Click the Search icon to bring up the player(s). 
• Click once to select Embed Music

• Next click the BLUE Select button to bring up the gadget settings.
• Click in the mp3 files to play box and remove the entire URL.
• Click in this now empty box. Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) and choose Paste. This will paste the address that you copied from your audio attachment. 
• Backspace out the ?attredirects string of text up to the audio file suffix (e.g. mp3). See below for an example. The part to erase is crossed out. 

https://sites.google.com/a/elmira.edu/it/gapps
/gsites/sitesaudio/nzoku_reading.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1

• Adjust settings as needed.
• Click the OK button to apply the settings. Click the link below to play example recordings. 

Examples of audio inserted into Google Sites