Charlie & Mommy Being Silly
This started out to be a video to send to my friend Lori, but it turned into kind of a fun little peek into our world, so I thought I would blogify it, and share it with the world for the sake of posterity!
Beginning of Blizzard West Des Moines, Iowa, February 17, 2008
Here is what the weather was doing today at 9:16 a.m. in West Des Moines, Iowa. We have a blizzard warning today from 9:00 a.m. until midnight, which covers most of Iowa. We are to expect up to 8 inches of snow, wind gusts up to 50 mph, white-out conditions, and possible power outages.
New Blog For Me
Filed under: Celebrities, Television, big brother 9, blogging
So as not to irritate my readers, I am separating out a few of the issues I cover here at times, and making new, separate blogs for them.
Big Brother 9 starts tonight, and I want to do some big time blogging on the show, analysis of personalities, characters, the “twist,” and just basically have fun and gossip about the show.
So I am utilizing a domain I bought but havent’t decided on a use for yet to hold my new Big Brother Blog for the duration of the show. If you want to follow it at all, it is at http://www.universalpartytime.com
Yes, that’s UniversalPartyTime. A friend of mine once used that phrase when I told him the party we were going to on Saturday night started at 8 ‘o clock. LOL
Anyway, I haven’t “personalized” the theme yet, so it’s kind of bland. And it’s brand new, so there is just the one introductory post there right now. But more is coming very soon! Aren’t you thrilled???
Workaholic and Insomniac is Not a Good Combination
Filed under: Art, Bizarre, Web Design, Word Press, blogging, just life
Waiting to hear back from fellow bloggers – and it’s after 1o p.m. central. Any NORMAL person would realize that work has stopped for the day and no answer will be forthcoming until TOMORROW. But not me….
I don’t stop. Someday, sometime, maybe I’ll take a vacation. But not now… there is too much going on! Some of my sites:
and many more
See SherryDedman.com for my portfolio of designed sites for other people.
Or see my Content Producer’s Page on Associated Content for copy writing, articles, research papers, commentary, etc.
No, as a matter of fact, I don’t sleep……
Video of one of the Tornadoes Around Izard County, Arkansas, February 5, 2008
Filed under: Bizarre, Brilliant Stuff, blogging, tornadoes
Here is a great video I found on YouTube of one of the tornadoes that happened on Super Tuesday around Izard County, Arkansas. It’s hard to capture a tornado on video at night, but this person did it! It appears with the strikes of lightening! Absolutely amazing and frightening. Kudos to you my friend.
Pause it at around 13/14 seconds for best effect! (Also around 25 seconds.) And if you like it, please “Digg” it on the Digg tag below it – thanks!
Tips To Make Your WordPress Upgrade A Bit Smoother
This is what it feels like when your upgrade fails!
When you have WordPress installed on your server already, and a new version comes out, there are pretty easy, intuitive instructions for implementing the upgrade. The instructions basically consist of deleting the old WordPress application off the server and uploading the new one and going through the extremely short, easy “install” process afterwards.
They also give you the nice tip, “If you’ve tweaked any of your themes, be sure to back them up before deleting them off your server, so you can put them back up after the upgrade.” Sure! No problem! Thanks for the tip; I’ll do that!
And I did do that (last night). But there are a couple of tips they didn’t offer that I really could have used. Mainly because I trusted the process a bit too much and didnt’ think it through. But still, it would have been nice to have done a few certain things to make my evening a lot less frustrating.
First, don’t just back up the changes you made to your themes. Back up your wp-config file with your server information on it. Otherwise you have to log into your server account and track down the database name and the username and password you set up for that db.
Next, if you usually tell your admin log-in for WordPress to “remember me,” and thus might have forgotten your password because you haven’t been using it regularly, take care of that while you still have admin access before the upgrade.
Go in and change your password to something new and write it down. Because once you delete the old application and install the new one, you’re going to need to sign in. It won’t “remember” you after an upgrade. And that blank username and password field can look very daunting. Especially if you used a now-defunct e-mail address when you originally signed up, like I did. And thus could not get your password reset e-mailed to you right away! In fact, you might go in and make sure your e-mail address is up to date as well, while you are at it!
And last but not least, make a note of what theme you were using, the location on the server where you had everything installed originally and the hierarchy of those folders as to how they pertain to your backed up themes and images.
These are all things that would have made my life so much easier, especially because in the middle of all of this I wound up having some technical difficulties as well with my computer. So these preventable problems just made it even worse when the unpreventable problems cropped up.
So, lesson learned. I thought I would pass on these tips to spare others the crying and heartbreak I experienced last night as I went in circles for hours on end to do an upgrade that should have taken 45 minutes at the most!
Do Starbucks and “Sugar In The Raw” Have A Strategic Alliance?
Photo Credit: Sherry Dedman
What is with the shameless pushing of “Sugar In The Raw” that seems to be going on at Starbucks? I’ve been getting the same drink at Starbucks – a Triple Grande No-Whip Mocha – for years now. And I usually just add the (white, normal) sugar at the little bar or whatever and leave.
But recently I decided I’d like to have the barista do it for me – seems more efficient and I wouldn’t have to mess with the lid and stuff. Starbucks coffee (or espresso, in my case) is really good, but I don’t really want to spend any more time there than I have to in the morning, “happily” chatting with people before I’ve had my morning caffeine.
Well, you wouldn’t believe the problems that the simple act of requesting sugar in my coffee (espresso, actually) has caused. Here are some of the ridiculous conversations requesting sugar in my coffee has caused:
ME: “Hello, I’d like a triple grande no-whip mocha with 4 sugars, please.”
Starbucks Barista: “Sugar In The Raw?”
ME: “No, just regular sugar.”
Starbucks Barista:“We don’t have sugar.”
ME: (I do a double take, then…) “You don’t have sugar?”
Starbucks Barista:“No, we only have Sugar In The Raw.”
ME: “Ok, whatever, 4 Sugar In The Raw, then.”
This was a conversation via the speaker at a drive-through (another reason I’ve taken to having the barista add my sugar for me – I finally found a neighborhood Starbucks in West Des Moines, Iowa, with a drive-thru. Oddly enough, a Starbucks with a drive through is incredibly rare in this frozen wasteland, where you would think drive-throughs would be the norm due to the weather, but I digress…..)
Anyway, so I drive up to the window and the cashier processes my card while telling me how much better Sugar In The Raw is for me. Whatever. I really don’t care. I just want my caffeine and don’t care to get into long discussions in the morning before I’ve had it. Just give it to me!
I finally get my coffee and drive away. And I drink it, and it’s like there is almost no sugar in it at all. I have to be on the road for the next 20 minutes or so to be to my destination in a timely manner, so I don’t really have any choice except to drink my not-very-sweet mocha as it is. (The add-shots of espresso of the “triple” are very intense and do need sugar or something to tame them.)
Er, anyway, it’s not-very-sweet until I get to the bottom…. Not only are the last few drinks exremely sweet, but they are very crunchy as well! It took me a minute to figure out that these little crunchies were ‘Sugar In The Raw’ bits that had never dissolved.
Never dissolved even after being exposed to scalding hot espresso and steamed milk and then stirred. After that it was sitting in this liquid for 20 minutes as I drank down my beverage, bit by bit, on my way to my destination. Ish. Still crunchy – as in non-biodegradable? Another question for another time… again, I digress…..
So the next time I ordered from Starbucks, I just put the sugar in myself, as I went inside. Why they have sugar at the little self-serve bar but not available to the barista is far beyond me, but whatever.
Soon after that, though, I needed to hit the drive-thru again. It was on my way, and I was kind of in a hurry. I needed my caffeine so decided I would live with whatever they gave me. I was resigned to “Sugar In The Raw” and did not desire a long conversation about it.
I ordered my drink at the speaker:
ME: “I’d like a triple grande no-whip mocha with 4 sugars, please.”
Starbucks Barista:“Sugar In The Raw?”
ME: “Well, since that’s all you have, then yes.”
Starbucks Barista:“We have Sugar in the Raw, Nutrasweet, Splenda….”
ME: “I don’t want an artificial sweetener, just sugar.”
Starbucks Barista:“Well Sugar In The Raw is not artificial!”
ME: (Shaking my head in exasperated disgust that this conversation had to happen again……) “Ok, I’ll take that, then.”
So I get to the window and am met by not only the cashier, but two baristas. One who says how much better Sugar in the Raw is for you. And another who says if I ask for him especially, he will measure out 4 measures of white sugar just for me after I tell him that Sugar In The Raw never dissolves well in my drink. It was a debacle.
As a side note, happily, they did remember to give me my coffee after all of their clucking, squawking, and quacking.
So the next time, determined never to have this conversation again, I ordered my coffee like this:
“I’d like a triple grande no-whip mocha with 4 sugars-in-the-raw, please.”
Cool. Works like a charm. Until I get to the window and the cashier says,
“Oh, you’re the one with the big ‘Sugar In The Raw Fiasco’ aren’t you? Did it taste all right? Did we convert you???”
WTF……. In stunned disbelief I thanked her grimly for my coffee and drove away, determined never to visit that particular Starbucks Drive Through ever again. In my mind I imagined a Starbucks company newsletter and a story in it about how to handle customers who want (gasp) sugar in their coffee, with a headline reading, “The Great Sugar In The Raw Fiasco of 2008.” And I am mortified.
So this morning…….
I walk in to a Starbucks. I order my usual. I say only “sugar” when I order, instead of “sugar in the raw” - just to see if they happen to have sugar packets. Maybe it’s only that one drive-through that does not have white sugar packets. I guess I’ll find out.
I order my drink. The cashier does not correct me when I say “sugar.” I feel optimistic. I walk over to the other end of the counter and the barista starts preparing my drink. She pulls out a little cup with all the sweeteners available to her.
Sugar is not among them. Sugar In The Raw is present in abundance. She takes 4 packets of Sugar In The Raw and empties them into my drink after the espresso and steamed milk are added.
She stirs. She stirs. She stirs. She looks up at me, still stirring her little heart out, and says, “I can still feel lot’s of little granuals down there.”
I say, “I know. Sugar in the Raw does not ever dissolve when it’s put into my drink.”
I try very hard not to show that I am restraining a bit of a rant.
I try very hard not to let on to her that her words were the “third base” punchline in a long-running Abbott and Costello routine. I try very hard, and succeed, to maintain my composure.
I thank her for my drink.
I leave.
20 minutes later I am crunching my little Sugar In The Raw granuals……
And I wonder – why does Starbucks push a sweetener that is not optimal for their main product?
The phrases “strategic alliance” and “I think I’ll put this in my blog” run through my head.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch….. I suppose it could be worse. At least it’s not High-Fructose Corn Syrup….
Inserting A Photo Into A Word Press Blog
Filed under: Web Design, Word Press, blogging, just life
Don’t mind me. I’m just testing how to insert a photo into a word press blog. I’m going to experiment with alignment with the text and things. Not much to see here beyond a few photos! This is “baseline” alignment.
Stop removing my line breaks!
Stop removing my line breaks!
Don’t mind me. I’m just testing how to insert a photo into a word press blog. I’m going to experiment with alignment with the text and things. Not much to see here beyond a few photos! This is “top” alignment.
Stop removing my line breaks!
Stop removing my line breaks!
Don’t mind me. I’m just testing how to insert a photo into a word press blog. I’m going to experiment with alignment with the text and things. Not much to see here beyond a few photos! This is “middle” alignment.
Stop removing my line breaks!
Stop removing my line breaks!
Don’t mind me. I’m just testing how to insert a photo into a word press blog. I’m going to experiment with alignment with the text and things. Not much to see here beyond a few photos! This is “bottom” alignment.
Stop removing my line breaks!
Stop removing my line breaks!
Don’t mind me. I’m just testing how to insert a photo into a word press blog. I’m going to experiment with alignment with the text and things. Not much to see here beyond a few photos! This is “TextTop” alignment.
Stop removing my line breaks!
Stop removing my line breaks!
Don’t mind me. I’m just testing how to insert a photo into a word press blog. I’m going to experiment with alignment with the text and things. Not much to see here beyond a few photos! This is “Absolute Middle” alignment.
Stop removing my line breaks!
Stop removing my line breaks!
Don’t mind me. I’m just testing how to insert a photo into a word press blog. I’m going to experiment with alignment with the text and things. Not much to see here beyond a few photos! This is “Absolute Bottom” alignment.
Stop removing my line breaks!
Stop removing my line breaks!
Don’t mind me. I’m just testing how to insert a photo into a word press blog. I’m going to experiment with alignment with the text and things. Not much to see here beyond a few photos! This is “Left” alignment. Stop removing my line breaks!
Stop removing my line breaks!
Stop removing my line breaks!
Stop removing my line breaks!
