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The Con is on!
February 17, 2009 by Nicki
Remember last year when we attended OmegaCon? We had a blast, and considering it was the con’s first year, I’d have called it a major success. But I became worried that it had been too successful and had moved on to another town — the website had gone down, the MySpace page had gone quiet and hadn’t been updated in a coon’s age, etc. It seemed to have dropped off the face of the planet … until I re-discovered it today!
I had been sitting in a meeting and had the good fortune to be sitting near a terminal with internet access. (Google to the rescue!) I ran across a reference on a local Star Wars forum to an event called “ImagiCon.” Another quick Google and I had found the website: ImagiCon.org. From the sound of it, it’s the same con, but renamed, with a spiffy website, and by the look of it a lot more to see this year.
YAY! 
Ok, so who else is going? 
Seen in a 5 Pts pawn shop
You can’t see it in this fuzzy pic, but the pin has a #1 on it.
I think I need one of these for my desk here at work! 
All Hallow’s Eve is upon us once again
October 31, 2008 by Nicki
Happy Halloween darklings! 
I’m on Round 2 of antibiotics and cough meds and am FINALLY feeling human again. Just in time for one of my favorite holidays!
Because you know we gothly types just can’t turn down an opportunity to dress up! 
I hope everyone has a very safe holiday weekend. We will be in T-town tomorrow for Alabama’s Homecoming game against Arkansas State.
If anyone who’s looking for some local spooktacular flavor, AL.com has a list of area Halloween events, attractions, and haunted houses.
Time wasters
Funny bone ticklers
WordCamp Birmingham Notes
Note: I had intended to post this Monday night, but work has been crazy-busy this week and Jim’s having a bit of a site snafu, so spare time has been pretty much nonexistent. LOL!
We had a wonderful time at WordCamp Birmingham this past weekend. A big thanks to Andre Natta and the B’ham team for all of their hard work. I’m most definitely looking forward to next year’s. The date is already set (September 26-27, 2009), so be sure to mark your calendar! Matt Mullenweg is slated to be a keynote speaker, so it should be awesome!! 
The Future of WordPress
The first speaker we saw Saturday morning was Dougal Campbell with “The Future of WordPress.” He briefly covered WordPress’ version history and various milestones over the last few years. Thinking back, I think I started off with either version 1.0 or 1.1. I remember the upgrade to 1.2 being pretty hard, but that was nothing like having to re-do my theme for 1.5, LOL!
Ahh, those were the days … :lol:
He then moved on to the upcoming and much anticipated version 2.7. It’s due sometime next month. According to Dougal, there will be:
- more backend UI re-design;
- upgraded API, so you can upgrade themes, browse and install plugins and themes, etc.;
- comment improvements (many of these are covered in great detail on Otto’s blog) such as:
- threaded comments
- paged comments
- auto-close comments
- replying to comments from the Admin menu (a HUGE plus!!!)
- sticky posts;
- “Quick Edit” inline editing via Ajax for posts;
- HTTP-only cookies, a security feature;
- a new HTTP request API for plugin developers, replacing the current request API (Snoopy, I think?);
- and many others …
He also went over some possible features for future versions of WordPress:
- APP Importer: for Movable Type, Type Pad, Blogger, …
- A new “default” theme, possibly based on Sandbox or something similar to it. This will be replacing the current Kubrick theme.
Some features that he thinks are likely for version 2.8 (taken from the Trac Tickets) include:
- better page managment: select page order, hide pages
- expanded template functions: users, comments, attachments
We can look forward to seeing more CMS features, more social networking features, better widget management. Perhaps even OpenID (that would be sweet).
Documentation was brought up and he stated that there has been a big push (internally) to get the functions (I’m assuming he means the Codex?) better documented, updated, etc.
SEO For WordPress
The next speaker was Donna Fontenot, who had some really good insight on SEO for beginners. You can view her slides here. It is also available on her website in HTML format.
She started with a very simple recommendation as a first step for blogging: think first, write later. This can apply to so many aspects, and I admit it’s one that I don’t practice enough. You should actually USE the phrases you want to rank well for in blog posts. For best results, use them in prominent places:
- Document Title
- Body Headings
- In posts
Another stickler subject: Blog Visibility. In covering the WordPress Settings, she states that you should always make sure to have the privacy option set so that your blog is visible to everyone, including search engines.
Moving on to Permalink structure, the optimal setting is /%category%/%postname%/. For most blogs it’s ok to be different though. Dates, which are useless for SEO, are useful for users and are most generally preferred. It’s best to make sure that %postname% in there somewhere.
She talked a bit about URL canonicalization. Blog owners must make a choice: www or no www. Whichever you choose, you must consistently use it everywhere:
- Linking to your site
- correspondence
- email and IM signatures
Donna then moved on to categories. This is another thing I am doing wrong, LOL! She says it’s best to keep them as top-level important concepts, as opposed to tagging. Me, I tag and categorize all willy-nilly. Guess I’ll have to work on that. :mrgreen:
One of the plugins she highly recommended was All-In-One SEO Pack. I’ve heard about this plugin from several different people and from what I understand, it takes all the guesswork out of SEO for your blog. Donna says that the default settings work well.
Another plugin mentioned is: Excerpt Editor. This one gives extra control over excerpts, autogenerates excerpts (but allows overriding), prevents duplicate content between excerpts and full post, replaces the_content() with the_excerpt(), and more…
She spent a bit of time on two other post elements:
- Post titles:
- use H1 or H2
- Ok to use other tags, but H1 or H2 are best (use whatever suits your theme)
- Post slugs:
- these should contain only most important words
- and you should strip out “stop” words like ‘a’, ‘an’, ‘the’, etc. These dilute the value of other keywords in the slug (permalink)
Other topics covered were:
- Post Image Optimization
- Interlinking
- Encouraging Sharing/Linking
- Participating and Reciprocation
Donna’s presentation not only had a lot of good information, she also made recommendations as to customizations to themes and various plugins that could help improve the “SEO-ness” of your site. I highly recommend checking out her site. You’ll find a LOT of useful information there that she covered at WordCamp, and a lot more!
Merging your work life with your blog life
The next speaker was David Griner. His presentation was pretty comical, poking fun at himself (he’s not even a WordPress user *gasp* hehe) and his profession. While this wasn’t really one of the topics that first piqued my interest, it did have a lot of useful information for anyone whose ever wondered what it could take to make blogging a full-time job.
It’s not something I could do, but I admire anyone who does it! 
Topics included:
- Pros of Freelancing
- schedule your own time
- stockpile blog posts in advance
- decent extra pay
- very minor level of celebrity
- opportunities for guest editing/posting
- work in your underwear
- Cons
- most people suck at time management
- you’ll starve
- no benefits or security
- can mess with your taxes
- easy to lose steam
- neighbors get tired of seeing you in your underwear
- Finding the right blog
- you’re probably already reading it
- who owns it?
- how many writers?
- Whats the output?
- Getting the gig
- get to know the writers or editors
- comment often under the same name
- write response posts on your blog
- if you like the site, help drive traffic there
- Asking for the job
- no harm asking about openings
- always write at least three sample posts that they could run that day
- make sure your e-mail is colon-rupturing in its awesomeness
- get across your enthusiasm for the blog
- talk about how it has evolved
- say why they need you
- what is the blog missing?
You can see these and more in his slides here.
Break!
At this point, we broke for lunch. Jim and I didn’t go back for the late afternoon sessions. I was nursing a migraine and football would be on soon. (Hey, I’m a ‘Bama fan first and WP geek second! )
I went back Sunday for a couple of the sessions: Brett Bumeter’s “Windows Live Writer — Blogging with any Blogging Software Has Never Been Easier” and Mitch Canter’s “Making WordPress Dance.”
Brett’s presentation covered the Windows Live Writer application. It’s not really my cuppa, but would be a great interface for anyone intimidated by the web UI for most popular blogging software/services.
Mitch’s presentation covered several topics I had previously researched and I was impressed with the amount of helpful information he covered. He also had a great list of plugins that he recommended. I would like to see more of him next year, if he attends. You can find his slides here.
The Media
From watching the WordCamp Bham twitters, I can see that a photo pool is available on Flickr, as well as a handful of the presentation slides gathered on SlideShare. I also see that WordCamp Birmingham also made the local news. You deserve it guys, great work!
Good stuff. Can’t wait until next year.
(Updated to include slides links, thanks Don @ authorize.net!)
Football and the South
August 7, 2008 by Nicki
In college I roomed with two girls who weren’t from the South. One was Canadian, the other from Michigan. Neither of them really understood the whole “football thing”. I joked with one, telling her that down here we don’t use DNA testing to determine paternity … we just ask the child which team he roots for!
Looking back, when I tried explaining the phenomena to them, maybe I really should’ve included some of the following:
Women’s Accessories:
NORTH: Chap Stick in back pocket and a $20 bill in the front pocket.
SOUTH: Louis Vuitton duffel with two lipsticks, waterproof mascara, and a fifth of bourbon. Money not necessary – that’s what dates are for.
Stadium Size:
NORTH: College football stadiums hold 20,000 people.
SOUTH: High school football stadiums hold 20,000 people.
Fathers:
NORTH: Expect their daughters to understand Sylvia Plath.
SOUTH: Expect their daughters to understand pass interference.
Campus Decor:
NORTH: Statues of founding fathers.
SOUTH: Statues of Heisman trophy winners.
Homecoming Queen:
NORTH: Also a physics major.
SOUTH: Also Miss America
Heroes:
NORTH: Rudy Giuliani
SOUTH: Archie & Peyton Manning
… and might I add: THE BEAR!
Getting Tickets:
NORTH: 5 days before the game you walk into the ticket office on campus.
SOUTH: 5 months before the game you walk into the ticket office on campus, make a large financial contribution and put name on a waiting list for tickets.
Friday Classes After a Thursday Night Game:
NORTH: Students and teachers not sure they’re going to the game, because they have classes on Friday.
SOUTH: Teachers cancel Friday classes because they don’t want to see the few hung over students that might actually make it to class.
Parking:
NORTH: An hour before game time, the University opens the campus for game parking.
SOUTH: RVs sporting their school flags begin arriving on Wednesday for the weekend festivities. The really faithful arrive on Tuesday.
Game Day:
NORTH: A few students party in the dorm and watch ESPN on TV.
SOUTH: Every student wakes up, has a beer for breakfast, and rushes over to where ESPN is broadcasting ‘Game Day Live’ to get on camera and wave to the idiots up north who wonder why ‘Game Day Live’ is never Broadcast from their campus.
Tailgating:
NORTH: Raw meat on a grill, beer with lime in it, listening to local radio station with truck tailgate down.
SOUTH: 30-foot custom pig-shaped smoker fires up at dawn. Cooking accompanied by live performance from the Dave Matthews Band,… who come over during breaks and ask for a hit off bottle of bourbon.
Getting to the Stadium:
NORTH: You ask ‘Where’s the stadium?’ When you find it, you walk right in.
SOUTH: When you’re near it, you’ll hear it. On game day it is the state’s third largest city.
Concessions:
NORTH: Drinks served in a paper cup, filled to the top with soda.
SOUTH: Drinks served in a plastic cup, with the home team’s mascot on it, filled less than half way with soda, to ensure enough room for bourbon.
When National Anthem is Played:
NORTH : Stands are less than half full, and less than half of them stand up.
SOUTH: 100,000 fans, all standing, sing along in perfect four-part harmony.
Commentary (Male):
NORTH: ‘Nice play.’
SOUTH: ‘Dammit, you slow sumbitch – tackle him and break his legs.’
Commentary (Female):
NORTH: ‘My, this certainly is a violent sport.’
SOUTH: ‘Dammit, you slow sumbitch – tackle him and break his legs.’
My personal favorite: “Put his ass in the grass!”
Announcers:
NORTH: Neutral and paid.
SOUTH: Announcer harmonizes with the crowd in the fight song, with a tear in his eye because he is so proud of his team.
After the Game:
NORTH: The stadium is empty way before the game ends.
SOUTH: Another rack of ribs goes on the smoker, while somebody goes to the nearest package store for more bourbon, and planning begins for next week’s game.
My God, I love the South! Can I get a ROLL TIDE?
WordPress updated
July 21, 2008 by Nicki
It’s over with, and it wasn’t too painful. At least I remembered to update my WP-Config this time.
That said, I’ve been hearing horror stories from others who’ve tried to upgrade, so I guess I’m counting myself lucky. So far I’ve updated this site and BYKYC. I’ll most likely be doing the others later this week (or whenever time allows).
My darling Jim passed this gem to me and I know there are a couple readers here who’ve asked me if I knew of such a thing: WordPress Automatic Upgrade. The website says it’s compatible with the latest version of WP, but I have not yet had a chance to try it out myself. (may do so on a less ‘popular’ site, LOL!)
An update on things …
New Orleans was fun, but like all vacations it wasn’t long enough. Work has been absolute Hell lately, and the insurance company that we’ve been trying to settle with (remember my wreck, going on 2 months ago?) is giving us the run-around, so I’m stressing a bit more than usual.
To those who’ve asked about the Lunarpages WordPress Theme Design contest, no I didn’t win anything. But I am VERY grateful to those who voted for me! There’s been some speculation as to how the deciding votes (LP staff?) really came out, but in all honesty I’m just happy being nominated … for now. ;P
Speaking of theme designs, I’ve submitted a handful of mine to the new WordPress Theme Directory. So hopefully those will show up soon.
SA on the slow track …
I feel pretty bad that I haven’t gotten as much done on my Soldiers’ Angels stuff as I’d hoped. I am beginning to think that maybe I’ve bitten off more than I can chew in helping the warehouse/donations tracking, Walmart grants, all the websites, and even my own projects here for SA of Alabama. I’m feeling VERY overwhelmed, and frankly a little disappointed because the local response hasn’t gone as well as I’d been hoping.
There is a glimmer of hope though. A gentleman waved at me while stopped at a redlight last week and told me that he saw my bumper stickers (Soldiers’ Angels) and that he just had to thank me for supporting our soldiers. I’m not in SA for any kind of recognition or personal glory, but it IS nice feeling appreciated, and reminds me of why I want to do so much …
Geekery
About three weeks ago I heard from one of my old Neopets buddies, Rose. We talked for a bit and caught each other up on how our families were doing, and the usual. She nudged me about possibly re-joining Neopets, so on a whim I did. My character name this time around is BamaAngels so if you’re on, look me up!
(boy, what I wouldn’t give to have all that NP stuff I gave away, LOL!!!)
Also, I am now an active Editor for Addons.Mozilla.org again. I feel badly for neglecting those duties for so long, but am happy to say that I’m now back and trying to do a little each week to help out the AMO gang.
Back in the Heart of Dixie
July 15, 2008 by Nicki
Well, things are slowly returning back to “normal” … I was greeted this morning with 600+ emails in my work Inbox, 100+ in my personal, and ~3000 feed entries waiting to be read.
LOL! Miss me much did they?
I see that WordPress has released 2.6 finally. The blogosphere is all a-buzz with the news. Suggested reading: Doug Campbell, Keith Dsouza, and Ryan Boren. So now I’ll have to update all my blogs, themes, and plugins.
Yay … I’ll get around to it (hopefully!) this week …
We had a great time in NOLA. The drive down and back was pretty pleasant. We took the “scenic route” passing through Montgomery, stopping by Jim’s mom’s both ways (she kept Jessie for us). I was reminded why I love living in Alabama. I remember thinking to myself, “My God, we live in a beautiful state!”
We stopped briefly in Waveland, Mississippi, and in upper Louisiana. It’s been nearly 10 years since I’ve been down there … everything I remember is gone. Katrina and Rita really kicked the collective asses of coastal cities in lower AL, MS, and LA.
Otherwise the drive down to New Orleans was nice. We had great weather (outside of the heat and OPPRESSIVE humidity!) I took the time while in New Orleans to see some sights, have some great food, partake in local (and interesting) spirits, and just enjoy myself in general. The reunion was a lot of fun, and it was interesting to see the people Jim grew up with.
I was lucky enough to meet up and have lunch with two of my Cotillion sisters: Greta Perry and Conservative Belle. I would have liked to have spent more time with them, but the heat royally kicked my butt and Jim and I had so much planned, LOL!
Hopefully I’ll be making another trip down that way pretty soon!
We stopped by so many shops in the French Quarters that I loved! Many had beautiful clothing and jewelry that I could have easily gone “ga-ga” over. We stopped in one vampire shoppe that had many cute novelties and some interesting books covering local and Southern folklore. The shop owner had a BEAUTIFUL German Sheppard (the “head of security” LOL!) that was just as sweet as he could be!
I want another dog! 
We also stopped by a local mall to pick up a few amenities that were forgotten in the hurried packing process. It was pretty much like what we have here back at home. I checked out one store that sold a lot of cell gear, drooled over some bluetooth cell phone headsets and considered getting another micro sd card for my Helio Ocean. (nah, will wait and get them cheaper online! LOL)
One thing that really sticks out in my memory is how “available” alcohol is down there. I kid you not, we walked into a Wal-mart and there was a HUGE section with every type of liquor and beer I could ever want! And you can’t walk 50 feet without coming across a daiquiri shop!
There’s so much more to tell, but we’ll leave it at this for now …
It’s good to be home!
Huntsville happenings
June 16, 2008 by Nicki
I received an email from CA Marks, of Alabama Improper fame. She’s started up a new site called Color Me Huntsville which covers local happenings in Huntsville, Alabama. I spent the morning going over her site and so far it looks great! Kind of reminds me of the early Terminal days.
So if you’re in the Rocket City area, be sure to check out her site! Also, be sure to tune in to her column by the same name in The Huntsville Times, as well as her MySpace page!
Better weather weekend
May 16, 2008 by Nicki
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Considering the way the weather has been the past couple of weekends (hello, tornado season!), this weekend is looking a LOT better. I can remember last weekend my co-workers laughing at the local meteorologists suggesting people gear up with bicycle helmets and medical ids “just in case” … personally, I thought it was good advice! I never go anywhere without my license and EPI (emergency patient info) card.
But I digress … we’re heading down to Montgomery to see Jim’s mom. We had originally planned for Jessie to skip the last week of school and stay down there for a couple of weeks; but because she’s missed so many days, she HAS to attend next week. (which sucks for her, I remember what that was like!) There’s a gun show this weekend as well, so we’ll probably hit that on the way back to B’ham.
Sweeeeeet. :mrgreen:
Operation Recruiter Appreciation
I ran across a post in the Alabama Soldiers’ Angels forums from Lisa regarding the upcoming Armed Forces Day (May 17th). Gathering of Eagles is planning to set aside that day to “visit as many recruiter offices as we can and to pay some type of tribute to them,” calling it Operation Recruiter Appreciation.
An excellent idea! Recruiting is a tough and sometimes thankless job and we want to make sure that these hardworking men and women know that they are appreciated!
If you are interested in helping, contact Lisa at hottie0427 @ hotmail.com (remove the spaces before emailing).
To find your local recruiting offices, go to: www.todaysmilitary.com/contact-a-recruiter
I plan on hitting a couple recruiters’ offices around the Birmingham metro area Friday, May 16th. Will you join me in thanking our recruiters for their service to our country?
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