Postcards From Myself

Building A WordPress Blog People Want To Read by Scott McNulty is a new book on setting up and running a successful blog. McNulty has written an easy to understand and at times amusing introduction to getting started with what is currently one of the most popular social media platforms.

Both well written and well illustrated, the book covers everything from downloading and installing the software, to setting up the database, defining system parameters, and selecting a template. What is really excellent about these explanations is that McNulty tells you not only what are the best choices, but what impact those choices will have on your blog in the future. There are many selections you can make when setting up a new WordPress installation that can seriously affect how your blog operates in a year or two when it is getting lots of hits, and McNulty helps you to make well informed decisions.


While the book was written based on version 2.6 of the WordPress software and version 2.7 has now been released, there is very little other than administrative interface that does not apply. Most of the setup choices and database decisions are still the same. It would be great to see a physical or on-line update of the book for WordPress version 2.7, but I think that is just me being greedy.
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WordPress Theme Design by Tessa Blakeley Silver is a slim book that is packed with information. Subtitled “A complete guide to creating professional WordPress themes”, it is amazing how much the book lives up to its billing. What makes this book so unique and valuable is that it is not a syntax guide or how-to for dummies, it is instead a step by step design tutorial.

The author concentrates on the why’s and wherefores of WordPress site design instead of getting bogged down in the minutia of every single menu possibility or syntax statement. For those looking for a thorough dictionary of all the WordPress programming codex, you need to look elsewhere. While the most commonly used commands are covered, the syntax is not gone into in detail and there are many functions left out. That type of reference is best left to books like WordPress Complete or the online help.

What Silver does in this book is start with the initial conceptualization of a site and then follow it all the way through to the end. From the very beginning with back-of-the-napkin sketches, this book makes it clear that the real heavy lifting of website design work is in deciding what you want the site to do. It is only after your decide what the site should do and how you want that presented that you can begin to program your website and actually get it to function.

Chapters on theme development, debugging, plug-ins and dynamic content go beyond the basics of WordPress to bring a full image to your web design. By showing how all of these features are first planned and then implemented, the author provides a great blueprint for the actual successful creation of a functioning site.

While the book was written before version 2.7 of WordPress was released, there is not too much that doesn’t apply across versions. Mostly this is because more emphasis is placed on the design than the technical details of syntax. Of course that is also the books one weaknesses. You will not want this to be your only WordPress reference. You will either want to avail yourself often of the online help, or you will need a more technical companion, such as the aforementioned WordPress Complete.

Overall, I highly recommend this book. If you need to create a truly custom WordPress site, and especially if you want to create more than one, you need a guidebook like this to blaze the trail.

I recently picked up “Through The Storm: A Real Story of Fame and Family in a Tabloid World” by Lynne Spears. Mrs. Spears is the mother of Britney, Jamie Lynn and Bryan Spears. What struck me first was the title, or should I say subtitle. A “real story” of the “tabloid world” seemed to be contradictory. But, as painful as it is to read and admit, this does ring true as a real story in exactly the same way that one could do a real story about cosmetic surgery.

Reading the book it also quickly becomes clear where the root of the families problems is. Lynne Spears is a mother who passed on to her children the need for fame and success without any real regards for the cost or the process. Turning true talent and personality into celebrity became the fastest way to do that.

There is a quote pulled out about two-thirds of the way through the book that says, “I wonder what Mama and Daddy would have said about all the craziness surrounding Britney, Jamie Lynn, and all of us. They were from another era, a time when character counted more than celebrity, and when you word was your sacred trust.” Those two lines about sum up this unfortunate story.

The incidents in “Through The Storm” show that the Spears girls, led by their mother, abandoned character and values for the glamor of celebrity. Equally as evident in reading this is that there is always someone else to blame or a prayer that God will bail you out. Instead of taking personal responsibility for actions, causes, and consequences, Lynn Spears always places the blame outside of herself. Showing still that character just is not there.

As for the book itself, it is a quick but disjointed read – very much like the lives of the pop celebrities it details. The style and content is about as filling as watching E! on television. If that is what you enjoy then you will enjoy “Through The Storm”. If however, you prefer real biographies, real stories, real news – then move on to something else.

A few years ago I went up to Toronto on a business trip. I really wasn’t sure what to expect because I had never been to Canada, and all of the big cities I was familiar with were typical US metropolises like New York, Atlanta, Dallas and the like. I was totally unprepared for the sprawling yet clean nature of Toronto.

I rented a car and cruised the area when I wasn’t in meetings, and found an area as diverse as the people there. From the high rises of downtown to the beautiful vineyards farther out near Niagara, the Toronto area had amazing contrasts.

The biggest surprise to me though, other than how clean the entire city was, had to have been the Toronto harbor. I really had never realized that not only did Toronto have a significant waterfront, but that it would be big enough for you to take a Toronto harbor cruise! I thought that harbor cruises and dinner cruises were the sole territory of place like, well like Charleston and San Francisco – places on the ocean! I never knew that when people talked of the great lakes, they really were Great Lakes.

I remember taking a ferry out to Toronto Island and the Toronto Island State Park. It was a beautiful area. I wander out there for hours amazed at the small island and all of the resources, including a clothing optional beach, that were available. Unfortunately I was there just into the off season so there weren’t as many facilities open and the flowers weren’t in bloom, but it was still an amazing place and so convenient to the downtown area.

While in Toronto I also ate at some excellent restaurants, browsed some well stocked book stored, and even took in the Broadway troupe showing of The Lion King. Oh, and of course, being a train person I marveled at the streetcars. Man I love those things. Never did get to take a full Toronto Cruise, but I would love to go back and do so.

Just thought I would pass on those thoughts. I hopefully will be traveling a bit more this year, and I was thinking about places that take you pleasantly by surprise. Toronto was certainly one of those.

OK, I am sorry to all you people who love the winter and skiing and the skating and the thrashing around in the snow, but it is cold. I live here in the, usually, sunny South for a reason. I don’t do cold well. When I was a kid I went with a church group on a retreat to go skiing in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. That didn’t last long. First the van broke down on the way up, and then I nearly killed a small child on the bunny slope. Needless to say I gave up, went inside the lodge, enjoyed myself in front of the fire, and was still able to watch the snow patrol carrying foolish victims down the slopes.

I have friend who is going out to Lake Tahoe skiing, and he told me the place he is going is called Ski Heavenly. It looks pretty cool. (Get it? Cool?) You can do the Lake Tahoe casino thing, all the normal winter activities, and even some adult nightlife activities. Of course the problem for me is that at the moment it shows the temperature as a mere 38 degrees! Good thing they have some nice lodging and shops. They also look like they have snowboarding – which some places do not. Though the buddy going there isn’t a boarder, I have a different friend who is. No, I still don’t know why, but Tammy is a great person so snow boarding must not be that bad.

Of all the things that might appeal to me, the Lake Tahoe hiking is the close. Like I said, i am not much of a cold climate person, but it looks like even in the warmer months there is some good scenery for those who chose to hike, not slide. I really do enjoy a good hike in the mountains when the weather is in the 50s or 60s. Please though, not any colder than that.

So, for the winter time, you go ahead and ski, or skate, or take sleigh rides. I will stay in the lodge all warm and snug and make friends with the snow bunnies. And another hot buttered rum.