Month: October 2014

To Buddy or not ….. that is the question ?

/ Tony / Leave a comment

Well, todays task is an interesting one. A Blog Buddy! So how would I go about completing this task. I suppose there are three ways I could go. The second most easy way (I’ll come to the easiest later) is just to put a request on ‘The Commons’ on the blogging 201 page and hope someone feels generous and play. The upside, is that you may ‘buddies’ that really want to be a buddy. There are downsides, but I’ll not dwell on that.

The hardest way is to contact someone direct. I suppose you would have to have a lot of confidence in your blog and in yourself to cope with the disappointment if that buddy says no! Even more so if you get many rejections (Q. Do I have a confidence issue??)

Then we come to the easy way. You just put out your request on the “The Commons” on the Blogging 201 site and hope for the best. The biggest issue with this method would be if nobody answered your request! What would that convey about you and your blog.

I’m in a quandary. Which way should I go, if any way at all. Taking on a ‘Buddy’ is quite a big responsibility.

Latest task ….

/ Tony / Leave a comment

I’m not attempting the second of todays Blogging 201 tasks! There are a couple of reasons. The primary reason is my availability to attend a conference or event. Personal circumstances would prevent me from physically attending anything like this. However, I might be interested in something online. That could be a possibility.

The first part of the task, is not what I do on my blog. There is no regularity to my blog. Postings are random and are often in response to events in my life. In any case, I have no idea what regular event I could host on my site.

So I think todays tasks are too far out of what you could call it my ‘Comfort Zone’ to be relevant to me. And that’s about all I can say.

What blogging day are we on ….

/ Tony / Leave a comment

I was going to start post twice a week, but answering these ‘Daily Tasks’ has forced me to up that schedule a little. So, without tracking back I have no idea how far along this Blogging 201 road we have got. Well that’s not quite true, in fact it’s not true at all, but I had to start with something!

So things I’ve done today:

  1. I’ve reviewed my sharing buttons
  2. Posted a thank you comment on a followers About Page (http://thecraftyladyincombatboots.wordpress.com/)
  3. I have rechecked that post are publicised (UK English) via Twitter and
  4. I’ve added a FaceBook share button

I did originally publicise on FaceBook as well, but that just seemed to be a duplication and bit of a waste of time.

———————————–

    On a different subject, I’m thinking of restarting a short story that I was working on a year or two ago. It’s just a distant idea at the moment, and I need to do a lot of revising before I start writing. I even need to change the title, but it’s on the cards.

———————————–

    By the way, as part of my “Experiment” using Microsoft Word as my blogging tool, it also works with numbered bullet points.

Another quick update ….

/ Tony / Leave a comment

     Not much today. I decided to add a ‘Top Post’ widget, but the side bar was looking a bit overlong. Enter ‘Secondary Side Bar’!!!

     Hmmm, I’m not too sure about this. The main body seems to be too squashed to accomodate two sidebars effectively. What does anyone think? Maybe I need to consider a different theme. One that does not have such wide side borders. Is there such a theme? Anyone have any ideas I can look at? Watch this space.

(Note to self:- you need to update that Gravatar!)

An Experiment

/ Tony / Leave a comment

I’ve seen on a number of occasions, comments on this site and others, that warn people about using Microsoft Word as a blogging tool. This not using Word to write, then ‘cut & paste’ into your blog, but using the built in template named “Blog post.dotx”. This post shows how I use it.

———————————————–

Centre Aligned

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam nec accumsan ligula. Quisque lorem purus, venenatis eget massa eget, finibus rutrum turpis. Aenean ac mi.

————

Left Aligned

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam nec accumsan ligula. Quisque lorem purus, venenatis eget massa eget, finibus rutrum turpis. Aenean ac mi.

————-

Right Aligned

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nullam nec accumsan ligula. Quisque lorem purus, venenatis eget massa eget, finibus rutrum turpis. Aenean ac mi.

————–

Various

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vivamus porta nec lectus ut molestie. Ut ut pretium elit. Duis ultrices mollis tortor ultrices sodales. Vivamus nulla diam, rhoncus vel felis a, tincidunt consectetur metus. Suspendisse congue, tellus et accumsan pellentesque, velit ex hendrerit nunc, at vestibulum mi neque euismod sapien.

Image Alignment

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Pellentesque eget nulla leo. Curabitur elementum congue ex eget consectetur. Vestibulum eleifend, nibh a dapibus cursus, ipsum dolor consequat nisi, in lobortis nisi purus quis velit. Pellentesque consequat nisl tincidunt dolor gravida, vitae luctus massa viverra. Aenean at vulputate leo, eu ornare mauris. Curabitur eros nisi, fermentum non facilisis non, dictum non turpis. In sit amet sem neque. Quisque ultrices pretium quam, ut faucibus turpis euismod vel. Sed in dapibus lorem. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Pellentesque eget nulla leo. Curabitur elementum congue ex eget consectetur. Vestibulum eleifend, nibh a dapibus cursus, ipsum dolor consequat nisi, in lobortis nisi purus quis velit. Pellentesque consequat nisl tincidunt dolor gravida, vitae luctus massa viverra. Aenean at vulputate leo, eu ornare mauris. Curabitur eros nisi, fermentum non facilisis non, dictum non turpis. In sit amet sem neque. Quisque ultrices pretium quam, ut faucibus turpis euismod vel. Sed in dapibus lorem.

———————————————————

Please forgive the faux latin. It was just the easiest way of adding text.

The only real issues I have come across, is that images need to be realigned (left or right from within the WordPress editor) and tags need to be added from the WordPress editor.

 

Blogging 201:- Day two

/ Tony / Leave a comment

Today’s task is to audit my blog. To look at what I’m displaying to the world and see if changes might be needed.

So, I’ve made a start. I’ve changed the header image to one of my own photographs. It was taken last year in the field across the road from where we live. The second change was to change the background colour of my blog.

Now I like the header image, and not just because it is one of mine, but because it reminds me of how and when I took it. Change number two is a different proposal. I cannot decide if I like the new colour. In fact, I’m not all sure I like having a coloured background. I tried using an image as a background, but that did not work.

So, I leave it up to you. Do you like the changes?

Goals and aspirations

/ Tony / 6 Comments

As a part of this “Blogging 201”, the three goals I intend to aspire to are:

  1. Increase number of comments;
    As of today’s date (20/09/2014) I have a total of 154 comments on the posts I have made. My goal/aspiration is to increase this by 20% by the end of October. My ultimate goal would be to have comments on every post I make.

  2. Increase the regularity of my posts;
    My currents postings are random and occur as and when I feel like writing something. I intend to start a routine of posting twice a week

  3. Start blogging with a theme;
    The problem, I feel with random posts is that there is no continuity. This I believe could be the reason for the lack of comments. So the goal here is to identify a theme. One that I either have an opinion or one that I have a good knowledge of.

The second goal is the easiest. Goal three would be quite a challenge, but could, if done well help achieve goal number 1.

Just give up now ….

/ Tony / Leave a comment

I don’t know why I do it. It’s never going to happen. It’s just a waste of money. I am of course talking about the National Lottery, or Lotto as we now call it. The chances of winning even the lowest prize are so poor, that it beggars belief why anybody does it. I have a couple of pounds left in my online account, and I’ve decided, that when that’s gone, it’s gone. Mind you, I have said that before and I’m still losing money!!

Earlier this week, I signed up for a WordPress blogging course. Now, I don’t really know what I’ve let myself in for, but if it improves my postings and increases traffic, I’ll be more than happy. My blog tends to just random posts, whenever I feel like it. This one is a prime example. The main reason for posting just does not exist. It’s just a random post about nothing in particular. Just musings from the day and the time since my last post. Random.

Here’s something that is quite random: since my operation, I’ve been trying to eat a little more healthily than before, and I’ve taken to eaten a lot of foods that I would not have opted for before. For example, I’m now eating more salad leaves than I have ever eaten in my life. Practically every day I will have some food that has a portion of salad leaves. Today, seeing as we had a few tomatoes that needed eating, I suggested to K*** that we have them, sliced on some fresh bread drizzled with olive oil. I cannot think of any occasion in the past, when I would have even though that would be an option for lunch. In the end, K*** turned the idea in a kind of bruschetta, which was absolutely delicious.

========================================

R*** has been okay today. He has been having problems with a build up of earwax, which can be quite painful. He had his ears washed out on Thursday and he was great afterwards. Last night, at around 8pm, he suddenly lost it. He was crying and shouting and stamping his feet. I went to see what the problem was and he went for me. It was the usual nipping and grabbing. He is a very strong lad and when he grabs your arm and squeezes, it really hurts. He eventually calmed down after K*** administered his PRN (http://bit.ly/1y4eRZW) but we have no idea why it happened. Today he has been as different again. I suppose it’s just part of his Autism. Something upset him and he dealt with it in the only way he knows. But it is difficult.

All going rather well …..

/ Tony / Leave a comment

Well, when I say “All going rather well…” I’m referring to my return to work and I mean the physical side to the return. I working on a phased return over four weeks.  As I say, I mean the physical side is going well. The actual work side is a little different. Although I was assured that I would not be disadvantaged during my absence, I feel I am little bit left out of things. My ‘team’ colleagues (if you can call them that) have integrated into the wider team a great deal more than I have, and I’m beginning to feel a bit like an outsider. Even more of an outsider than I felt before. I just don’t know what my role is any more. My line manager is back next week (at least I think she is still my line manager) and I’ll try and broach the issue with her. Although that may not be as easy as I would hope. She has a few problems in her personal life, and I may get the sharp end of that when she gets back.

I’m now working in the city centre, and as such I have to use a mutli-storey car park. It’s an expense that I wish I did not have, but it is not the expense that is the real problem. The car park get really full and there are very few spaces left by 9am. Normally this would not be an issue, but on the days when I have to have my blood test (currently every two weeks) I end up going in late. The thing that really annoys me is when people reverse park their cars into the parking bay. Because of the limited driving space, reverse parking holds everyone else up. I have no idea why they do it! It is just as easy to reverse out of the parking bay as it is to drive out forwards. I think they are just showing off.

The problems I’ve had with my memory, seems to gradually improving. I was trying to update a report yesterday, and was not having much luck with it at all. Then this morning I tried again and it suddenly came to me what I needed to do. Another report I’ve been working on is starting to look like it should, although I’m not getting the results I should, my line manager will know where I’m going wrong.