I have been scanning old family photographs for the past several days, and there seems to be no end in sight.  But, it is keeping me busy, which is very important for me, since I just quit smoking.  I’ve only felt mildly psychotic a couple of times, and it passed pretty quickly.  In fact, my children might actually say that I’ve been exactly the same!! LOL

Seriously, though, it is going far better than I thought, and the key for me really is to stay occupied.  If I am thinking of something, or busy in the middle of doing something, then I’m not as likely to think about smoking.

I also just bought the iLife upgrade for Mac, and it finally got here today, so I think I’ll install it and see what ‘new stuff’ there is to play with.  I think I will be able to upload straight to my Flickr account from the new iPhoto, so that will be very cool.  And, I think I will be able to publish a website directly to my url, so I might actually get that genealogy site done that I’ve been threatening to finish for, ah, probably a few years now!  So maybe this quitting smoking thing will work for me on several levels.

One last thing:  I am NOT quitting smoking because it costs too much, or because it “causes cancer”, or because some amazingly insensitive obnoxious non-smoker said something snotty to me.  It’s my decision, and I chose it for my own personal reasons, which has not been easy, because I absolutely love to smoke.

Okay, so it sounds like something off of Star Trek, but it’s not. I am posting a link on here from a news station about how easy it is for someone to tap into your cell phone and listen to your every word, EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT USING IT AT THAT MOMENT. Now, I am pretty sure that most of my conversations would bore just about anyone to death, but that doesn’t mean I’m comfortable with someone listening in on them. Anyway, here is the link:

CELL PHONE TAPPING

Well, if you’re reading this, and you’ve been keeping up with me recently, then you know this is the third theme in as many days!  I’m gonna get a bit “geeky” and “techy” here, so bear with me.  As I mentioned in my previous “New Theme” post, Wordpress has been upgrading relentlessly  this past year.  And, I like what they are doing!  At first, I had some doubts, but by this point, even someone like me who has no clue how to create software, can appreciate their hard work in improving the interface and usability.  I love all the new bells and whistles!

However, as I mentioned before, the upgrades have rendered many older themes crippled, at best, and useless, at worst.  My old “Coffee Cup” theme (AKA: ‘Downtown Java’ by Brian Garndner) could no longer keep up with the new platform.  So, a couple days ago, I thought I would try the theme “Amazing Grace“.  I liked the name, and it seemed like it would be really easy to customize.  The guy has some pretty good forums for people to go to for help, and it works great with the latest Wordpress release. He also has some really amazing plug-ins.  I particularly like his “Theme Test-Drive” plug-in, which allows you to play with a theme on your own site, while everyone else who visits the site still sees your regular format.

But for some reason, I couldn’t get my own images to load, at least not all the time.  And, I couldn’t get rid of the default images.  Now, I’m not a coding expert, but I know enough code to usually be able to go in and tweak whatever I need to fit my needs.  So, I went to the forums for help, and started reading posts, thinking I might find my solution there.  Nope.  Furthermore, I didn’t think some of his responses to people were very friendly.  Instead, he was rather sarcastic.  I imagine he gets frustrated with folks asking him lots of questions, all the time, but he could be a bit gentler!  Granted, he has offered the theme for free, and if he charged for it, then that might make a difference in the tone of his customer support.

So I continued my quest for a new, customizable theme that I could use.  I Googled “Wordpress 2.6 Free Themes”, and found that Wordpress.org itself offers a listing of themes that are compatible with their newest release.  The one I am trying out now seems very promising.  Although I like the headers that come with it, I am going to create my own header, and use it instead.  I have had several folks (including my husband and my daughter, whose votes count double!) tell me that they really miss my old header, and liked it better.  So, for those of you who agreed with them, but were too polite to say so, I will be creating another header, hopefully even better than the last one, to go with this theme. But I’m keeping the little stars!  Aren’t they cute??

And what theme is this, that I have chosen now?  Glad you asked!  It is called “Mandigo“.  These guys actually offer several themes, but this one will work best for me, I think.  If you have your own domain, and you use Wordpress for a blogging platform, check them out.  (This would be a good time for me to point out that the free blogs available at Wordpress.com are very, very different than the stuff available at Wordpress.org).  Wordpress.org is where you get all the wonderful OpenSource stuff, including this wonderful blogging software!

Okay, so I’ve loaded this post with all sorts of links, if you are so inclined to follow my path through the Blogosphere and try to figure out what I’m talking about.  If not, that’s okay, too!

With Wordpress constantly updating their software, many themes are becoming obsolete.  Sadly, my original theme is one of those dinosaurs!  So, after spending way too much time searching for a new theme, and even going as far as setting up a test site just to try out different themes and see if I liked the way they looked, I have found a theme I like.

And, like all new things on the Web, it’s “under construction”!   The pictures on the upper right hand side of my header will soon be replaced with photographs of my own choosing, but for now, please enjoy the ones that came with the theme.  Every time you re-load my blog, a new photo will display.  Yeah, I’m gonna have some fun with that!

I am not too crazy about the “Category Tabs” at the top, and will be working on figuring out how to change or possibly delete them. (Update:  I have already deleted them!) I am also considering adding a “Wall” and maybe a Poll or two.  I do hope that everybody likes it . . . I’ve threatened to change my theme for a long time now, and everybody I’ve mentioned it to has begged me not to, but sometimes you just gotta keep up with the times!  Please let me know if you find anything weird or glitchy, so I can try to fix it.  Thanks bunches!

Roughly 21 years ago I bought my first computer.  It was a Franklin, and I loved it!  Back in those days, you had four types of Personal Computers: 1. Apples 2. Apple-compatible computers 3. IBMs 4. IBM-compatible computers.  Unless you worked for the Government, in which case you had some monster-looking thing off of the X-Files.  Anyway, a Franklin was an “Apple-compatible” computer. I ordered it from the Sears catalog, because it was a couple hundred dollars cheaper than a ‘real’ Apple, and I had a Sears Card.  A few years later, I had a bit more money, and I went out and got myself a real, live Apple IIe.  And, I loved it.  With all my little computer-obsessed heart.  It was big, bulky and ugly, especially by today’s standards, but I was totally enamored.

But, alas!  A couple years more, and Microsoft Released it’s first version of Windows.  I think it was “Windows Neolithic” or something along those lines!!  Anyway, Gaylon got one at work, and he convinced me that I should get one, too.  I hated to give up on my trusty little Apple, but Windows did, indeed, look promising.

Fast-forward to, oh, any time after 2000, A.D. It slowly began to dawn on me (yes, I am a very, very slow learner!) that I’d been had.  Windows is a Microsoft product, and as such, it can do nothing but dig ever deeper into your pockets to suck you dry right before it crashes.  You have to buy endless anti-virus programs and anti-spyware programs and they never completely work, anyway.  And you have to update them every year. I’m not going to get on my soapbox right now about how much I dislike Microsoft, but suffice it to say that for about 3 years now, I have been secretly lusting after a Macintosh computer.  Well, maybe not so secretly, but definitely lusting!

Macintosh computers are stable.  You don’t need software for viruses and spyware.  They don’t crash for reasons unknown to everyone in the known universe except for Microsoft and “The Mother Ship”. So, today, I finally got a MacBook!  I have finally gone back to my first love, and I am thrilled.  I am having to learn so many new things, but I don’t mind.  I probably shouldn’t mention this, but it made me laugh, so I will:  the last time I owned an Apple Computer, nobody had Internet!!!  (Except the Pentagon).  Seriously, it’s been that long, and I guess that means that I’m that old!  Now, I have so many new toys to play with on my new computer!  I’m going to be very busy for a while. . . .

Yeah. . . sweet!  I got the black one.

Our Girl Scout troop is working on the ‘My Heritage’ badge. One of the activities is to create some sort of presentation about your family heritage. Our troop is planning on making a scrapbook page at our next meeting, so each girl will have a special keepsake about her own family. In the process of planning for this meeting, our wonderful troop leader, Christy, found a free software program, available for download, for creating and keeping track of a Family Tree. She inspired me to do some digging of my own, and I discovered that a program I paid around $50 for a couple of years ago is also now available for free.

So, I thought I would share the sites, in case anyone would love to start working on their family tree, but didn’t want to pay for software.

The site Christy found looks really great: MyHeritage.com. They have lots of cool stuff on their site to help you out. The program I used to use that is now free is called FamilyTreeLegends. They also have some neat stuff on their site, and both programs do ’smart matching’ where, if anyone else is using their software and has the same information as you, the program will notify you, and hopefully connect you with someone else who is working on the same family as you are! And, if you just feel happier buying a software program, I still recommend RootsMagic! (See my Genealogy Page for more information on this program!)

I just discovered that if you “Google” the phrase “March for Life 08″, my blog comes up as the fourth listing!  Wow. . . could this be my moment of fame?

Here’s the update for now on the March:  there were over half a million marchers, including Kendall and Alex.  Alex forgot to take the camera we sent with him to the march, so we are just going to have to take his word for what he saw.  Kendall took his camera, and promises that he got some pictures of both the Belmont Abbey College group and the St. Barnabas group.  He also got a picture of Alex, but for some reason didn’t manage to get a picture of himself with Alex.  I’m not going to try to figure that one out.  Not being a teenage boy I’m not sure I’d understand anyway.

On a random note, I am starting to think evil thoughts about Adobe Software again.  Their programs are excellent, but they are so restrictive with licensing that it makes me want to scream!  I am the editor of our homeschool support groups Yearbook.  We have roughly 300 families in our group, and about a third of them participate in the yearbook.  Last year, we earned enough in advertising and yearbook sales to buy the latest version of Adobe InDesign CS3.  But it only came with two activations!  So only two of us can use it, making it very frustrating for several people to be able to work on the yearbook simultaneously, which had been my hope.

After calling Adobe and asking about their “Volume Licensing” program, I am almost tempted to used PrintShop or some other cheap program. Each additional ‘license’ costs $200 for non-profits, or, if we bought a minimum of 10 additional licenses, under their ‘educational licensing’, then it would only be $160/license.  Ha!  As homeschoolers,most of us are already on a shoestring budget, having sacrificed that second income to be able to stay home and educate our own children.  We simply don’t have that kind of spare cash laying around.

Okay, I’m done.  I will come down off of my soapbox now.  If anybody has any spare Adobe InDesign CS3 programs that they are trying to get rid of, let me know.  I could use them!

Check back in a day or two for more details on Alex’s experience at the March for Life and the Holocaust Museum.

I have a friend who is amazingly gifted, although she would never admit it!  She has created the most beautiful greeting cards, and is selling them directly and through local businesses.  Everyone told her she needed a website, and a few folks even recommended that she talk to me!  Wow.  I built my own website, and am still really proud that I wrote all of the HTML myself, but I think it’s quite an honor to be recommended!

So, I have built a website for her, and while it is nowhere near as impressive as her greeting cards, hopefully it will be a vehicle for her to sell her work.  As of now, there are only three cards ready for sale, but she has over fifty verses ready for the artist to bring to life.

I  feel obligated to say what she would want me to say:  she is only God’s instrument.  And I tell her about how Mother Teresa always said she was only God’s pencil.  I think my friend, Karen, is God’s paintbrush! 

Anyway, check out the website:  Walking In The Wilderness.