I determined a while ago that I wanted to reduce the clutter on my blog and eliminate most of what’s normally displayed on the front page of any blogs. However I didn’t want to lose any functionality and wanted to always have the ability to add links and categories and have lists of them that were generated dynamically somewhere. I figured that adding a page for each makes a lot of sense so I wrote a dynamic content wordpress plugin. At the moment it has 3 hard coded keyword tokens that it replaces with corresponding content. However the next release will allow you to specify a keyword token and what widget to insert in its place.
High(er) Resolution Wedding Slide Show
I just stumbled upon stage6 and decided I’d finally upload a better quality version of the wedding slide show like I promised months ago. The experience has been good thus far except the site forces you to convert to divx before doing an upload. Since I didn’t have anything to do that with it took me a bit longer than I had hoped but worth it in the end.
[stage6]http://stage6.divx.com/user/randyaa/video/1776882/Randy-and-Rachel’s-Wedding-6/9/2007[/stage6]
Gravatar
I generally like the idea of consolidation. I’m tired of all the logins I have all across the web. I try to use a very small list of identical names and e-mail addresses but with the shear number of sites out there and the different security requirements it’s very difficult to keep them all up to date. I’m a fan of openID although I don’t think they quite get it yet. I love the concept I’m just not sure about the execution. Using a website address as your one unique login is awkward.
In general there’s just too much clutter on the web. Too many things that accomplish the same task. Too much information being generated by every individual. I wrote before about consolidating the feeds I generate into 3 main categories.
Today I consolidated my avatars. An avatar is what people see of you. It’s often the first image they’ll get of you, or perhaps even their first impression. It’s a drag to update these avatars on every site you use. I myself hardly used to use them simply because I don’t like searching for a photo to use and trimming it down to size etc.
Gravatar makes it very easy. Essentially you attach an image with an e-mail address and thats it. Any website which is Gravatar-enabled will display your Gravatar wherever it detects your E-mail address. Your Gravatars also have ratings so that certain sites can say they only want to allow ‘G’ or ‘PG’ Gravatars for example. The only Gravatar I have is this:
I have now enabled Gravatars on RandyAldrich.net and RandyandRachel.com. I’ll probably do so on any website I administer in the future as I think its a great way to build community.
If you hate seeing the Gravatar logo, Create yours today!
If you’d like to enable Gravatars on your wordpress blog simply download and install this plugin and then add the following line of code in comments.php wherever you’d like them displayed:
<?php if (function_exists(‘gravatar’)) { ?><img src=”<?php gravatar(“X”, 80, “”); ?>” class=”gravatar” alt=”Gravatar Icon” /><?php } ?>
As a sidenote… I may create an updated version of the plugin myself (or send the needed changes to the original author) which inserts the above for you when I get a chance.
WordPress 2.3
WordPress 2.3 has been out for a while but I’ve been hesitant to upgrade. I finally decided it was time. RandyAldrich.net was running on 2.1.2 until now and I thought the upgrade might not go as smoothly as it should. As with any upgrade I did a database backup and instead of overwriting the install directory I created a new one (randyaldrich.upgrade). Once I was satisfied that I had all configuration, plug-ins, themes and uploads transferred to the new directory I simply deactivated all my plug-ins, switched the directory names and ran the upgrade script. It went perfectly smooth. So smooth that I also upgraded R & R today.
Along with the upgrade I always do some general house cleaning. Remove any plugins no longer used, upgrade any plug-ins which have upgrades available. I like to embed videos with my posts now and then and WordPress does not make this easy. Because of this I have been using Viper’s Video Quicktags for quite some time now and recently realized I was 2 versions behind. The new versions provide some nice enhancements and fixes to issues I have been noticing.
All in all. A good upgrade. I highly recommend it.
Drunken Pumpkin '07
Saturday night was our first Drunken Pumpkin. What is a Drunken Pumpkin? well… It’s quite simple really. It involves getting Drunk and Carving Pumpkins. That’s it. It doesn’t sound like it would be a very good combination but really it’s the order that matters. As long as you carve the Pumpkin first you’re good to go. From what Amy says this is the 6th annual Drunken Pumpkin in which Nobody got ‘carved.’
Rachel and I took home the “Most Like a Halloween Story” paper plate award for our “wind in the Willows” Pumpkin. Neither one of us had ever used a kit before which turned out to be slow but worth it. Lots of thin little intricate pieces but we did those first while the pumpkin was still in one piece and it all turned out well. I think if we go next year we’ll be trying for the “Fewest Cuts” award.
After the Pumpkin carving mayhem we played a little Wii which led to some crazy fun for all the guests. Greg had to keep reminding everyone to use the wrist strap so we didn’t “let Fly” and damage his beautiful new TV. We learned that the tall person has to stand on the right at their house because there’s a ceiling fan on the left with some nasty light fixtures and we learned that no matter how close you get to the TV Greg will still be nervous.
Great time by all who was there and maybe we’ll see you at Drunken Pumkin next year!
Sky Full of Birds
Today Driving past MCC I noticed that the foliage over the pond had turned and decided I’d stop by to take a few pictures. I’ve only walked back there once before which was at least 3 years ago. I think the same guy was there today playing with his dog as was there 3 years ago. Strange. In any event I ended up with some nice shots of the pond and the foliage along with the surrounding scenery.
Leaving MCC I noticed there was a parking lot full of seagulls. Normally I pay them no mind but today I had my camera.
Why Not?
I put the camera on Burst, held it out the window and sped through the middle of the seagulls. They came out kind of blurry but more or less the effect I was looking for. Lots of fun and I hate those birds anyway.
Clearwire
While in BestBuy returning a game today, I noticed a new Kiosk for Clearwire. It claimed to offer cheap wireless Broadband access. I was intrigued so I grabbed a pamphlet. After further review their broadband access isn’t that great.
- ClearValue (standard tier)
- 768Kbps down
- 256Kbps up
- $29.99/month
- ClearPremium (premium tier)
- 1.5Mbps down
- 256Kbps up
- $36.99/month
While their speeds arn’t that great they’re still a big step up from dial up. The idea is interesting and I knew that companies were begining to offer it in other cities but I wasn’t aware Rochester was on the map yet.
Don’t fret, Rochester is on the map!
One concern I have however is that it appears to be using a proprietary wireless protocol rather than the existing 802.11b/g protocols. What this means is people are forced into utilizing their provided modems rather than being free to roam the coverage area with their mobile devices. Too bad, If the speed was a little faster, I’d completely be willing to switch if I could connect using my existing wireless devices.
Ron Paul
I haven’t been paying much attention to the Republicans until recently. This is mostly the media’s fault and I’ll admit I’ve been suckered in. I used to be a Joe Biden advocate because I thought he was the only worthwhile Candidate. About a week ago, however; I started paying attention to Ron Paul and I’ve since changed my stance. Take a look at the clip from Comedy Central’s New Daily Show website below.
http://www.thedailyshow.com/sitewide/video_player/view/default/swf.jhtml
It makes me sick that this election will most likely be decided during the primaries and we’ll end up with either Obama or Hillary. I blame the Media. Give some attention to the other (worthwhile) candidates.
The best election we could hope for, I think, would be a Joe Biden vs Ron Paul election. If that were the case and both were given the opportunity to present their stances the results wouldn’t be obvious to me. I’d have to seriously weigh the pros and cons before making a decision and thats the way it should be.
Our New Hampshire Getaway
This past weekend Rachel and I were relaxing in New Hampshire. We stopped over in Albany on the way and then spent the rest of an extended weekend in the White Mountains. We saw some fantastic scenery and great fall foliage. We’ll have to make the trip a regular one.
Below is the first slide show I’ve created using Picasa. Picasa will most likely become a more commonly used tool around here so brace yourself.
Our Wedding Video
This is the video taken during the wedding by Bryan. Some parts are a bit shaky but you get what you pay for.
Randy Aldrich 