Monday, July 31, 2006

Tech addicts unite!

Well I did it. I couldn't resist any longer. The addiction is too strong, the need too great.

I filled up my shopping basket on Amazon.com and pushed the BUY button. On the way is a MacBook 2GHz White, Parallels software, a Kensington flat keyboard, an external 250GB hard drive and 2GB of RAM to install myself. The MacBook has a $100 rebate offer so how could I resist???

My idea is to show up at work carrying my new baby, plug it into the network and get started! Then dump that Dell piece of crap that they gave me to work with. Ah! To work on a Mac all day! I can't wait! Hmmm, I wonder what our IT director will say?

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Blogger templates

I've been searching the web looking for cool Blogger templates to use. There are quite a few out there, but nothing that fits EXACTLY what I'm looking for. No surprise really. I mean, how can a complete stranger create just the perfect blog template for ME?

Here are some sites with nice looking templates, for free:
www.isnaini.com
www.ehsany.com
www.geckoandfly.com
www.blogskins.com
www.pointoffocus.com
www.bloggertemplates.org
blogger-templates.blogspot.com

If you know of more, please tell!
My next job is to pick one and try it on......

Friday, July 28, 2006

Blog about Blog

This is the 4th time I've started a blog. It has become clear to me that what I like most about blogging is the technical aspect of setting it up. At least that's true so far. So, I might as well blog about blogging. It might even be helpful to others.

First, I have to say there are some nice reviews out there about different blog tools that are available. Here's a really good overview. There are other tools out there (like iWeb for example) but they are either new or very niche and not included in this person's review. If I find other comprehensive reviews I'll list them here too.

For me the criteria for chosing a blogging tool are:
  1. Free - I used to have a .mac account (see previous post about changing email address - I dumped my $99 a year .mac account) but I want to take advantage of all the free tool out there.
  2. Editable - I want to be able to use templates from 3rd parties. Or edit my own.
  3. Flexible - I want to be able to easily change setups as my blog evolves.
  4. Simple to use and setup - I don't want to have to code everything by hand.

I'm now trying Blogger because it seemed to fit best into my criteria. It's not a perfect fit (I still have to understand html and css to REALLY make the blog my own design) but it's pretty close.

My next move is to personalize the blog with a 3rd party template. Then to modify that template with my own header image. And then some additions for categories.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Editing your tech life

I'm in the process of changing email addresses. I've had my old one for so many years that I really didn't realize what a pain it is to change! It's worse than moving. When you move you know who you need to notify - everyone who sends you something in the mail needs to know where to send something the next time. And the post office will help by forwarding your mail for a period of time so you don't miss anything.

When you change your email address sometimes you don't know what you don't know. Does my bank have my email address or not? I don't remember. They don't email me, but you never know if some day they might want to. And my frequent flier company. Oh damn, what about my credit card company? Maybe I don't want them to know. I'm sure someone somewhere will fall off my list and will never contact me again. Which can be a good thing too. How to lose an old boyfriend - oops! forgot to let him know that my email address has changed.

The good thing about this is that I should stop getting really annoying spam, at least in the short term. I did a stupid thing and gave out my one and only email address to shopping websites and that's when the spam started. I should have made aliases that I could easily kill, just for shopping. Now I know better.

My new email is with gmail. I'm giving Google a go. Gmail and Blogger. Let's see what Google can do for me for free what I was paying $99 a year for on .mac. I'll write soon with a gmail review once I've been using it for a little while. So far, so good.

Sunday, July 23, 2006

What? Not another blog attempt?

Let's try a free blog service and see if this works out!
I'll have to get some links up here right away, otherwise you only have ME to entertain you.
More shortly.....