Windows PowerToys & JAlbum

I was flipping thru some old postings on GIS blogs that I haven't read in a while. Rob Elkins, of Rise & Shout, mentioned Windows Powertoys. Had a go out it and downloaded the HTML Slide Show Wizard, Image Resizer, and a PowerToy Calculator. I've enjoyed the first two immensely but can only see myself using the conversions options in the calculator.

JAlbum is another great free program for making web albums of your photos. I've played around with different photo sharing programs before (see some examples here) but the options in JAlbum are fantastic. I especially like the BananaAlbum skin but this new SlideShow Powertoy may give it a run for its money.

Now if I could figure out a simple way to display my travel pics & stories with a web GIS mashup that didn't involve Google Maps.... hmmm.... any suggestions?

Oh yeaaah... I'm a working stiff again!

Lucky, lucky me. I'm back at UBC - again. For one more year.

Had an interview a few weeks ago with the good folks from the Human Early Learning Partnership, a research group whose objectives are to:

1. To build effective partnerships and serve as British Columbia's early child development research infrastructure.
2. To measure, analyze, interpret and build effective frameworks for new, interdisciplinary understanding in child development.

They have a core group of mapping & GIS folks and I'll be replacing someone there who's off to England for a Masters in GIS. I'll be their GIS Officer and doing a bit of everything, from data entry & cartography to fine-tuning a ArcIMS site.

The HELP mapping program is a good example of partenerships between research and local communities. The researchers are interested in the health and social markers of young children and through the Early Childhood Development Portal, communities can see the results of surveys in their communities on-line. Community coalitions interested in the results (i.e. Richmond (PDF)) can then develop programs to target/improve at-risk children in their communities (or schools &/or daycares for example).

So yours truly has a couple of weeks to enjoy the last remnants of EI and the sunny weather. I start back at UBC on August 1. Thankfully, this will allow my liver to recover after a stint in Las Vegas for a buddy's stag. (VEGAS, baby, VEGAS!)