Spouting 14: Wordpress Plugins

My soon to be self hosted Wordpress blog is coming along very well. I’m taking my time with this, so that I understand fully what is involved and how to manage my blog site going forward. As I stated in Spouting 13, I will be using this blog to detail my progress of my self hosting Wordpress install and set up. Afterwards, I will transfer everything over to my self-hosted blog and continue blogging from there.

I decided to use a subdomain of my site to do all of my testing, as I learned that it would be very easy to transfer my completed test blog to my main domain when the time is right. As such, I’ve completed the phase 2 of my sight: installing and playing around with plugins. I haven’t installed every plugin that I will need, but the two that I did install contributed to the learning process for me to know how to actually do the installation. The two plugins that I chose to start with is the All in One SEO Pack and Tweetmeme. Both of these plugins installed quite nicely. Wordpress offers a great internal installer. And the beauty of all of this is that you do not need to install directly from Wordpress if you choose not to. If you’re interested in doing it manually, you simply need to upload your plugins to the plugins folder on your server via FTP. Not that I’m afraid to do it manually, after all, I’m quite proud of having installed Wordpress manually. As noted in my first phase, Spouting 13: Wordpress Update, the installation was a piece of cake. I really only had to change 8 lines in one file called: wp-config.php and then upload that file with the rest of the Wordpress application files to my root server via an FTP client. Now that I understand the manual process, I don’t have a problem with letting Wordpress automate it for me. Another nice feature is that Wordpress will decompress the .zip file the plugins come in as part of the auto installation process. I simply can not believe how easy this has been. I also installed a different theme. It’s not the one that I will be using, but I also wanted to understand how theme installations were handled. The fact that Wordpress is setup to allow the user to search for and install plugins within its own dashboard is wonderful. This prevents the user from having to go to another site. Yet, if the plugin you want to use isn’t available within the dashboard’s plugins page, then you can still simply upload the .zip file and have Wordpress take care of the rest!

As of now, Tweetmeme,was the easiest of the two plugins to understand. Although I have the All in One SEO Pack installed, I’m not sure if it’s really working or how to determine if it is or isn’t. I did a test post, but I didn’t see anything beyond the general stuff that appears with a post. This means that I will simply play around with the plugin a bit more, visit the forums and see what I can discern. For those of you reading this and considering the same, some resources that I found to help me out with this part of my installation were:

My Google seach string for the “must have” plugins for a Wordpress blog

Wordpress Plugins Page

How To Make My Blog’s 18 Most Downloaded Plugins Ever

Thesis Theme Plugins Customization

Quick Online Tips’ Must Have Wordpress Plugins

Business 2 Press’ 30 Must Have Wordpress Plugins

Most of the information is repeated in the above links, but I put them in the order that I found them to be most useful. With regards to the Thesis theme, I’m not sure if I will be going this route. It’s a highly customizable theme for Wordpress with a very clean structure. If you like to control everything and have the time to invest, then this is the theme for you! My personal opinion, and I could be wrong, but it’s really for those that are more high end users. I’m keeping my eye out on it, maybe one day, but I really like more visually laid out themes, like Elegant Themes, and while I’m still on the fence about which direction I’ll take my blog, I am leaning more towards Elegant Themes. That being said, I will be saving my theme of choice to the very end. As far as plugins are concerned, I would enjoy reading anyone’s suggestions on any other plugins that I should consider using, whether they are on the lists noted by the url’s above or not. I make no promises, but to check them out!

——-@ds

Spouting 13: Wordpress Update!

This is going to be quick. I haven’t posted for a while, because I’ve been working since Saturday, September 19, 2009 with setting up my own hosting service for my already purchased domain: runningwithoutcondition.com. I purchased the domain back in May and now am actively working to become acquainted with my own hosting service (which is setup) and the self-hosted version of Wordpress (I’m currently testing it out). I want to say that I not only successfully installed it without a problem, but I did it entirely manually. I was only able to do it this way, because I installed it on a subdomain of my main site, while the main domain is still forwarding to this site: laid0ff.wordpress.com. All in all, I’m quite proud to have done it manually, and after it’s been all said and done; it was not difficult at all. I may even do it again, just to make sure I understand the process (OK, maybe not, ;p)

That’s it for now. I’m going to hold of any of my new posts for my new site when it becomes ready. I’ll post status updates here about my progress or any difficulty I may be happening and maybe anyone that has experience could lend some assistance!

I want to thank Adria Richards and Kikolani for all the advice and answers they’ve provided on Twitter/Facebook. You can find these awesome Geek Girls at: (Adria) askadria.com or butyoureagirl.com, and Kikolani at kikolani.com

I also want to thank the following website: howtomakemyblog.com for providing a kickass step by step process, in a non-cluttered way.

Also, Wordpress.org for making such a powerful program for free and so extensible!!!

——-@ds

Spouting 11: Notebook ideas…

The title says it all. I have a small notebook and in it contains a few of my ideas. Most of the time, I tend to intimately consider things I’d like to create or endeavors I’d like to make, but I hardly ever write them down. Rather, I store them in my mind and recall them as needed. However, I have kept coming back to an idea that I’ve had for a while. I contacted the owner of Please Feed The Animals, Erik Proulx, and asked him for his advice on how best to present one’s idea on the web to share with the larger community, but to also protect it from those who may have better resources to implement a potentially good endeavor. His reply, and this is paraphrasing at best, was that far too often many people keep great ideas locked away in notebooks that never see the light of day. This one statement was the one thing I needed to hear.  Since then, I’ve added a few more thoughts to the idea; talked to a few more people about it and have committed to writing it out and posting it on my blog site.

I can’t quite state when the post will happen, but it will. I may very well wait until I can transition this blog off of Wordpress’ hosting site and onto my own self-hosting service, and let that be the first new post of my new, self-owned/contained, blog site. Either way, the time is ticking and one of the crucial elements will be to find a few people that have the resources needed to accomplish the goal of this idea. This is just one post to get the ball rolling…

——-@ds

Spouting 10: Ch-ch-changes

It has been about 3 weeks since my last post, but I am happy to report that I am working again, at least on a temporary assignment. I’ve been re-employed at my former company that I was initially laid off from. I am back in my previous department, but in a new role. As I’ve told those close to me, I’m very happy for the reprieve, even if there is an end date. This all came about on the 3rd of August. That day I had to fill out all the paper work and fax/email it back to the company. By Wednesday, I had to accept and sign the offer letter and take the mandatory drug test. And all of this was being rushed so I could start on the following Monday, August 10, which I did. It has also been an odd transition of getting back into the mindset of having a schedule to adhere to in order to get some sleep, wake up at a proper hour and get to work on time. After almost 10-months of sleeping whenever, waking up whenever and doing whatever-whenever; I am slowly coming around to this familiar, but re-enacted routine.

This past Friday, I received my first pay check, but only for the first week, because I had not completed a full two weeks yet. A former colleague of the company (and now friend), who worked out of another state and was also laid off (he has recently relocated to Orlando, FL working for another new, but soon to be great, company) told me about a month ago, about how good it felt to receive his first paycheck in such a long time. I have to echo those sentiments: it does feel really good. But, I have not let this positive turn deter me from my current goals and path. I still have every intention of paying off my car. This should happen, if everything goes as planned, in October. After this time, I should be saving more and planning what I will do once the job is set to end by December, 31st 2009. With everything that has happened since October 2008, I’m not ready to bank on anything beyond this being a temporary position for me. I’ll always keep an open mind as to the possibilities and make some, not so formal, plans should those possibilities become realized, but my consistent plan will always be on the reality of what currently “is”.

So, as of now, what becomes of my website: www.runningwithoutcondition.com? I will continue to post. The metaphor still applies in all aspects of my life, not just my goal (which is still not completed) of being permanently employed as full-time somewhere. I still have plans of transitioning this site off of Wordpress’ servers and set up my own hosting site. I still have a number of drafts waiting to be completed. I think that I will probably start publishing my “spouting” posts anytime, but any of my longer posts will most likely be done during the weekend.

It’s strange how you take for granted receiving a paycheck every two weeks when you are working.

I also want to thank JRM. You know who you are and I appreciate what you did.

——-@ds

Balance

Making different decisions when the madness of who I am is clouded by what I am used to?

Making different decisions when the madness of who I am is clouded by what I am used to?

Change is a fickle concept. Far too often we entrap ourselves in the embodiment of our created security and ego. Sure, we can make different decisions about the food that we eat from day to day, or the people we’ll talk with from one moment to the next, but what about when real change is needed? When at the crux of continuing down a familiar and constant trail that is potentially leading nowhere or embarking on an entirely unknown path, so unknown that you’re not even sure where to start; then how does one make different decisions when the madness of who they are becomes clouded by what they are used to?

I am striving for change. I keep trying to do stuff that I am not normally used to doing in an effort to affect change in myself, my life and my perception. Maybe I am not doing enough, or maybe I, at times, end up over doing it. As I look back on the past 8 – 9 months that I’ve been laid off, I am questioning if I have really done anything truly different or not. I started my own personal blog and wrote about a few personal aspects of my life as well as the ambiguous nature of being unemployed for the first time. I have opened up to more people in my life who, only a few years ago, I more than likely would not have done so. I know that I had to also let some people in my life go. I felt they were more of a detriment to my progress. It’s not that I dislike them, but one can only have so much negativity in their life when things outside of that relationship also seem a bit negative. You can succumb to that way of thinking if you do not anchor yourself appropriately. It wasn’t an easy decision, but I stand firm that it was the right decision. Yet, letting people go in our lives is not something that is new to anyone. Sometimes it’s easy to point out the change needed in other people’s lives, but when it’s your face looking back at you, it is not something that’s easily done. I know that unless I do something drastic, it won’t take a drastic turn, but I don’t believe that type of urgency is needed. After all, it’s persistence that I am going for.

Given all of this, one can not have change without having a counterweight to that change. Something that still holds you steady and true. Right now, my “striving for change” is landing my next job/career opportunity. I have been putting a lot of focus on that. There has been a week here and there that I’ve said, “Screw it, I’m taking a break from all of this searching”. However, I am feeling like I am beating the proverbial dead horse over and over again, and not progressing anywhere. What I have failed to realize or take note of is the key issue of: balance. In failing to recognize this concept, I forgot about the fact that life looks for equilibrium. It’s a teetering effect, put too much weight on one side and everything comes tumbling down.

I have been ignoring it. Indirectly pursuing it. And overall stifling it.

There’s constant shifting in our lives and in the effect that our lives have on all things outside of our being due to, and in lack of, balance. Our shifts produce their own unique ripples that transcend and eclipse those created by others that you know, others that they know, and so on. In the end, there will be balance and we will find our own equilibrium in life. It just takes time and effort to get there. I haven’t been lacking in the time or the effort, but in balancing this out with the rest of my life. Lately, I’ve been venturing out more, rather then just staying in. I hid behind the veil of “trying to keep my expenses low” or “not having a purpose to go out”. The time for that has come to an end. It came to an end a while ago, and it’s only now that I’ve come to the point of writing about it.

What we do, how we do it and how we think manifests outside of us and if the external situation or that which surrounds us is the aspect that we want to change, then we have to bring the focus back on to ourselves in order to change our interaction with it. All the time I spent staying in for the reasons I convinced myself to do so, created an imbalance in my life. I prevented myself from engaging others and meeting new people, going out to get something as simple as fresh air, challenging myself to break past my insecurities and find entirely new experiences. When we allow ourselves to move past what we are used to, then that madness of being clouded in our own self-absorption begins to secede. And when that happens, then the change that we seek happens. But it only comes about with being in tandem with those new experiences and that, which we are seeking.

That, in itself, is balance.

——-@ds

**Elements of balance was originally included on a post of mine on my former Myspace blog, which has been fully removed, on March 28, 2008.  Edited and updated, July 22, 2009.