Rottweilers Ate My Laptop

Rottweilers. Computers. Cameras. World Domination. Not necessarily in that order.

Rottweilers.
Computers. Cameras.
World Domination.
Not necessarily in that order.

Website or CMS? WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal?

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In addition to my own blogs and websites, I host and maintain a few websites for friends, family, or organizations that I belong to. I’m thinking about switching some of those websites from conventional hand-coded sites to CMS.

I’ve played with test installations of both Joomla and Drupal on my own server. I found Joomla slightly easier to wrap my mind around. Joomla has a wider variety of free and paid themes available; Drupal is more secure. The sites I want to switch are quite simple so both Joomla and Drupal seem like overkill. They may be a good choice for the sites that belong to organizations since it would be easy to integrate a members-only area, discussion forum, or other interactive features down the road.

My first self-hosted blog used Movable Type and of course you know my current blog uses WordPress. In the past, I never really considered using blogging software as a base for a website, but some of the WordPress frameworks have made me think I should reconsider. Tonight I took a little time to read up on StudioPress’s Genesis theme framework and Crowd Favorite’s Carrington framework. My brain hurts. I’ll let you soon know what I end up doing!

(NaBloPoMo | August ’10: 6 of 31)

Update: CLEAR 4G Wireless Internet

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You might have seen where I started a free trial of CLEAR’s 4G Wireless Internet service at the beginning of the Fourth of July weekend, when our Comcast cable internet had some downtime (once again, contrary to the phone support person’s opinion, the problem was not our modem).

I’m happy to report that the two-week trial period of CLEAR’s On-the-Go mobile service went very well. The software installation was quick and super easy on all of the laptops we wanted to test: two running Windows Vista, one running Windows XP, and one running Mac OS X Snow Leopard. We tested service in several locations in the city of Chicago and in a few suburban areas. I can report that signal strength and speed were good in the spots where we would most need to use the service. My husband and I both liked the service enough to keep it, so the service was upgraded to a 2 On-the-Go bundle.

During our trial period, I also took some time to check out comments online from other Chicago area CLEAR users. Most of the negative reviews seemed to be about the home service or weather-related downtime. My only experience with the home service is in the Honolulu market, where my mom has used it for almost three years. When we helped her set it up, modem position in relation to the windows and electronic equipment in the room was very important. We have not personally had those issues with the mobile modems in Chicago. We also had several stormy days during the trial period, and our connectivity did not appear to be affected.

CLEAR’s home service is not yet available at our address, so we will also be keeping Comcast cable internet unless we find a better solution. We will most likely cancel our other wireless internet service as soon as that contract expires.

I also want to mention Marcos, the sales associate I spoke to at CLEAR’s Harlem-Irving Plaza kiosk. He was friendly, professional, and very quick in getting me set up and on my way, both in my initial visit and when I went back to upgrade to the 2 On-the-Go bundle.

So far, I’m a satisfied new CLEAR customer, and also glad that Comcast has given us no problems since the outage I mentioned at the beginning of the post.

I have not received compensation for this review, and neither I nor my husband has any connection to CLEAR except as paying customers. Our CLEAR contract is at the standard rates and promotions offered in the Chicago metro area during July 2010.

(NaBloPoMo | July ’10: 21 of 31)

Unidentified Flying Objects: Axel and his frisbee video

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As promised a couple of weeks ago, here is the finished version of Axel’s soon-to-be-famous frisbee video, featuring guest appearances by Freya and Oliver!

I’m getting a little more comfortable with iMovie. I didn’t go out yesterday to buy the “Missing Manual” book, but I’m pretty sure I do want it. I know I’m not taking full advantage of the program and it seems like the fastest way to get up to speed would be to do some reading before and during experimenting. I’m still debating whether to get the printed version with one of my Amazon gift certificates, or order directly from O’Reilly to get the print + ebook combo package.

(NaBloPoMo | July ’10: 18 of 31)