Share Your Blogging Workspace
Last week I asked you about your least favorite part of blogging. Today I want to ask about where you do your blogging.
I do most of my work at my home computer, which is pictured above and below. I have a desk that is much too small so I can’t pile too much on it. Maybe that is a good thing. I didn’t clean it up for the photo but there is often much more stacked on the side of the monitor. There are shelves to the side so a lot of stuff gets put there. Although most of the things on the shelves are games and dvds that have nothing to do with blogging.
(Anti) Social-Lists 11/2/08
Happy November! Hope you’re not too full of Halloween Candy. And to my fellow Philly friends I hope you’ve started to come down from your World Series high.
This week we have information about Tweetdeck, a Train for Humanity article, memories of a grandmother, making your website recession-proof, some thoughts on Doctor Who, two of my new articles at Environmental Graffiti and Halloween photos.
Happy Halloween
Between not writing a post in advance for today, Philly winning the “World” Series and Halloween, I am going to cheat a little and share some Halloween information.
My second article is now available on Environmental Graffiti; 8 Awesome Star Wars Pumpkins. Can you carve a pumpkin like one of those? I sure can’t. I can barely hold a knife without cutting myself.
What is Your Least Favorite Part of Blogging?
Blogging requires many roles; writer, researcher, business manager, technical specialist, social director, communicator, moderator, marketer, community organizer, and … ? Fill in the blank.
I don’t think it’s possible for one person to excel in all of those roles. We have different talents and different interests.
So, while we may all love blogging, there are certain aspects of it that we like more than others. And there are some parts that we actively dislike.
Qwitter - Find Out Who Has Stopped Following You on Twitter
Until recently email notified me when I was being followed on twitter but I had no way of knowing when someone had stopped following me. Now I am using a tool called Qwitter. I signed up and get an email when someone stops following me. What is really amusing about this, at least to me, is that it tells me the last tweet I sent before being unfollowed.
Obviously, someone didn’t always stop following me because of a particular tweet and coincidence plays into this a little. For example, I might be cleaning up my list of who I follow and not even be monitoring twitter and stop following someone right after they say “I love kittens and rainbows”. Now what kind of person would I be if I didn’t love kittens and rainbows and that made me stop following. Although, if I saw that in my timeline, I might wonder why I was following Strawberry Shortcake.
Stuff This in Your RSS - 10/28/08 - Neatorama
Neatorama contains links to all sorts of random information and is a fun diversion. What made me decide to list it this week was this adorable photo of a mother and baby giraffe. I love elephants best but do have a soft spot for giraffes too.
Neatorama excels at finding the oddest and most interesting strange links from around the internet and compiles them in one location. Recent front page stories are 10 Fun Facts about Picasso (seriously, I didn’t know there was anything fun about him), 40 Street Artists You Should Know Besides Banksy, the video of the McCain vs. Obama Dance Off, and a video of a house that walks.
WordPress Helper: A Useful Firefox Extension
Google Analytics shows that 65% of my visitors are using Firefox. This is awesome since Firefox only has 20% market share. Since most of you use Firefox, I figured that a mention of a Firefox extension would be useful.
WordPress Helper is an extension that adds options to the right click menu under umm, WordPress Helper. It provides links to a ton of information in the WordPress Codex in an organized manner, contains specific information for versions 2.3, 2.5, and 2.6 and well as plugin and theme compatibility.
(Anti) Social-Lists 10/26/08
It’s the last weekend in October and it’s the last installment of (Anti) Social-Lists for the month. This week there is some WordPress information (what a surprise, huh?), suggestions on reducing the amount of plastic that you use, more photos of poverty, cool photos of the Northern Lights, and a new feature in gmail.
WordPress: Security Update 2.6.3 Released
Earlier this week, I asked if you were an early adopter with WordPress upgrades. Following on the heels of that inquiry is a WordPress security update, which brings WordPress up to version 2.6.3. If you are running 2.6 or higher, you can see the message about the upgrade on your dashboard.
A vulnerability has been found with the snoopy.php file, which is responsible for the RSS feeds on your dashboard. This is not a crucial issue but snoopy.php is used by a number of plugins so, as always, I recommend upgrading.
There is, however, good news for people who are already running 2.6.2. According to Joost de Valk, at yoast.com, only three files need to be updated if you are already running the most recent version. Replacing three files via ftp or your cpanel file manager is SO much easier than a full upgrade. The three files are:
- wp-includes/class-snoopy.php
- wp-includes/version.php
- wp-admin/includes/media.php
Unmotivated, Unproductive, and a Ramble
This is C.C. (aka Captain Courageous). I’m using this photo because that is how I feel right now. I have no energy, I don’t feel like working and am unmotivated.
I’ve felt this way for a couple of days. I’m not sure why. Actually I’ve been out of sorts for about a week. Not exactly down but more irritable and annoyed.
I think, ironically enough, the start of it was Blog Action Day. I was excited about participating and in hopefully bringing more awareness to Train for Humanity. I also set aside time to read other posts about poverty. And a lot of what I read really disturbed me. It wasn’t the posts that disturbed me but rather the comments.
Wordpress - Enhance Search Results with the Search Excerpt Plugin
At the beginning of September I wrote an article about the Search Reloaded plugin, which sorts the WordPress search results by relevance rather than date. In addition to Search Reloaded, I also use the Search Excerpt plugin to enhance the search results on this site.
Generally search results pages use WordPress excerpts. Excerpts contain the first couple of sentences of a post. The problem with this as related to search is that the first couple of sentences may have nothing to do with the search term.
Stuff This in Your RSS - 10/21/08 - Unclutterer
I’ve spent a lot of this year dealing with mental clutter and finally feel ready to deal with the physical clutter. I’ve lived in the same apartment for 7 years (a lifetime for someone who used to move every year) and had a child in that time so a lot of stuff has piled up. We have a lot of storage space, which is a mixed blessing in that we stuffed things in the attic that we would have gotten rid of if there were less storage room.
My husband was the organizer. Or so I thought. He used to take things up to the attic, store things in closets, and take care of the organization. Perhaps I should have supervised this more but after he left I discovered that things were not organized at all. One end of the attic contains every box that a package arrived in. I have spent two hours breaking down boxes and have barely made a dent in the pile.
Scam
Vered
Wesley
Ajith Edassery
Ron Obvious
Mike Nichols
Kristi