Fathers Day
Happy Fathers Day! Thats right today was Fathers day. My post is a little late as I was spending time with me dad.
My most revet post have been off topic and I hope to return to my regular post soon but I wanted to take a minute to tell you about my dad.
My dad is fantastic. He is my hero. My father is the epitome of what a father should be. He has been there for me even before my consciousness was present. When I was born my dad got laid off in part because of the situation President Reagan caused. He was laid off for more than two years. That wasn’t going to stop him from providing for my family. My dad worked every odd job he possibly could. He even started a bust business with some fellow family that he ended up getting screwed in. He always made sure there was food on the table and his family had the best money could provide. He is the type of person that likes to do the work and doesn’t need recognition for it. He views it as his duty. Don’t tell him he did a good job. It is what a father is supposed to do. He is no Hollywood dad as those characters aren’t half the person he is.
He taught me values, built my character, and contributed to the person I am today. He instilled hard work values into me as he is as a union laborer. The rough hands from years of swinging hammers and fixing mechanices were really soft. Soft in the sense that his heart shined through when he touches, comforts, and consules you. His soft and careing demeanor have transfered to me. I hope one day the values I learned from you can one day transfer to my family. I hope to grow and become half the man you are. Dad, you are an incredible human being. A shining example of what a father is supposed to be. I love you and lok forward to the years ahead.
Dad,
As I grow older I realize that one day I may not get to always have you. I can’t imagine a world that we don’t coexsist in. As you know, I only know 1 on of my grandfathers that died almost 16 years ago now. I hope that my children get to learn from you what I have. If not rest assured that that the character you helped me grow to be will shine through. Again, Dad I love you with all of my heart.
Your son,
Chris Estes
Twitter Troll
It is official I am a twitter troll. But what makes me a twitter troll?
A while back I posted about twitter and how I was beginning to use it. As many plans with social media, I failed on my initial trial.
So what makes me a Troll? I always have the nifty Twhirl* twitter console/application open. I never update about what I am doing as I don’t think people are interested in what I am doing. I wish I was as entertaining as these characters. Brian Wallace post about everything, eating popcorn, going to the grocery store, and I bet he twitters in the Tub. Jennifer Laycock talks about what she is reading constantly. How can she be reading if she is Twittering? Kalena Jordan’s “bitch of the day” or latest ranting about who is messing with her in Australia are just out right entertaining. Then theres Matt Cutts’s posting about something that might as well be written in a secret hidden language only Nicolas Gage in Disney’s National Treasure can read.
My life isn’t interesting. I troll around the internet and read about others interesting lives. I haven’t found the greatest utility in Twitter but it is ever entertaining. It is like having a webcam view into the daily lives of ordinary people. The great thing I like about it is that spammers have not yet invaded me. Some of the basics of Twitter allow me to view only the people I want to anyway so I don’t have to worry about them.
So yes when I am on my computer my Twhirl app is open and I am watching you. I might not update often but you better believe I am lurking around.
* Twhirl is an application built around Adobe’s Air. For those of you who don’t know about Air yet you will. I have been watching Adobe Air for some time and super excited about the possibilities. It does have quite a few SEO problems but hey that makes life fun.
. 12 Jun 08 | Blogging, Fellow Blogger, SMO, Social Media, adobe air, twitter | Read on | Comments (3)
Content Management System: Wordpress
Content Management Systems, or CMS, are common place at an ever increasing pace. CMS systems are intended to manage large websites with a template and database. Not diving into a whole lot of technical jargon about CMS systems they are intended make life easier when managing a website. One of the most common, if not the most common, CMS system is Wordpress.
Wordpress is attractive for most people because of its cost. It’s Free! Being free and widely distributed makes it vulnerable to security breeches. Due to the constantly evolving risk for security vulnerabilities also means the constant stream of updates. With every update and tightening security means new code being inserted into your database and templates. With every update means new bugs. New bugs means more updates. Checking for updates has become part of my daily routine. The constant updating is time lost. The time isn’t so much the issue as the constant customization of code and re-customization of code. Every plugin and update brings in hours of coding. Why is that a problem? I’m not a programmer. I’m not a developer.
Wordpress is an open source technology that is created by the community at-large. That means that some of the worlds best programmers and developers donate their time for only recognition in return. By the same token that means some of the worst 3rd rate programmers/developers are donating their time also. In most cases I am willing to bet that most of them are mediocre or at least inexperienced. I understand why so many of them would be willing to devote a considerable amount of time. For the great exposure and widespread visibility. Hasn’t everyone done that? As many of as rely upon wordpress being the best and with so many second rate people working the forums and code sections. I think a professional CMS system maybe in many of our futures. If a lot of money is on the line, 15 year old kids programming maybe effective but in most cases they lack the experience to develop for business.
I use Wordpress for most all the site I own. Once upon a time the system worked for me flawlessly or atleast I remember it working that way. I have nothing but problems with it now. The constant change in plugins and updates has left a few of my sites riddled with errors or code that I did not intend to be there. On one of my website there is a plugin that is generating a commented out code that is being run by some backend function that pings another server which is leaching my post and publishing it as there own. I wouldn’t mind so much if they wanted to recive a ping when their plugin is being used but not for scrapping my content. I am tempted to run a local script that just constant pings and injects code into their server. But that is just vindictive. So instead I spend the time learning what they wrote and cutting out the parts I don’t need or ones transmitting to other sources I don’t trust. I put lots of time into my website and to keep it functioning correctly at peak performance in the back end so that the front end is nice clean and jumpin. But instead for a post to go out I spend 30 min writing and another hour fixing bugs. If you are a begining user you probably have no clue what most of the functions are going on in your application. Some of them could be hurting you.
Most day’s I like Wordpress, but today I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. The bugs the incompadibilty of the free templates and plugins is killing me. I have hit a cross roads with them. I am considering a totally different CMS system, Now to find one that I can have control over and only 
uses the plugin and code that I want to appear. Wordpress without plugins is vitrually nothing but a journal, For some sites that works. For me it does not. The paid CMS systems cost a lot and I am not willing to pay for one.
If you know of any good CMS systems around that would be worth while feel free to share them. I have tested droopal it just doen’t work for me. I have Ideas on how to create the perfect fail proof CMS System. That would be part re-inventing the wheel and someone willing to do it for free. So It looks like I may be with WordPress until my wish magically comes true.
Content Managment Systems are meant to make life easier. For me Wordpress makes it worse. If it doesn’t get better I might just go back to hand filling php templates by hand. Though time consuming and defeats the usability of the greast sections of the Admin section. So because there is no easy answer to the CMS solution I will just have to learn to love wordpress again.
Status Quo Blogging
As indicated in my last posting about Helping Bloggers and Charity I talked about a guest post I wrote for a fellow blogger in need.
The post, entitled “Status Quo Blogging”, was about standard status quo blogging post. It is by far not a landmark post and serves as a working example of status quo blogging.
To read the post visit Social Desire, the blog “devoted to everything Social Media and Web 2.0.” You can view the post directly at “Status Quo Blogging“.
Helping out Fellow Bloggers
Bloggers have problems too. As much as living the life of avatars and behind the screen name there are real people. Earlier this week on twitter Shana of Social Desire requested help:
Then on her post she requested it again on her blog which you can read about on Social Desire. I submitted a guest post which if it makes it through the vigorous filters of Shanna you should see it soon. Stay tunned for the announcement of my guest blog post helping out a friend.
Around the first of this year I made a charity post and since I am in the feel of donating to an organization I would like to do another one here on the end of this post.
My charity of choice for this post is the American Sleep Apnea Association. The American Sleep Apnea Association is the only non-profit organization dedicated to educating the public about sleep apnea and to serving people with this common disorder.
The American Sleep Apnea Association is dedicated to reducing injury, disability, and death from sleep apnea and to enhancing the well-being of those affected by this common disorder. The ASAA promotes education and awareness, the ASAA A.W.A.K.E. Network of voluntary mutual support groups, research, and continuous improvement in care.
From the ASAA Website
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is caused by a blockage of the airway, usually when the soft tissue in the rear of the throat collapses and closes during sleep. In central sleep apnea, the airway is not blocked but the brain fails to signal the muscles to breathe. Mixed apnea, as the name implies, is a combination of the two. With each apnea event, the brain briefly arouses people with sleep apnea in order for them to resume breathing, but consequently sleep is extremely fragmented and of poor quality.
Sleep apnea is very common, as common as adult diabetes, and affects more than twelve million Americans, according to the National Institutes of Health. Risk factors include being male, overweight, and over the age of forty, but sleep apnea can strike anyone at any age, even children. Yet still because of the lack of awareness by the public and healthcare professionals, the vast majority remain undiagnosed and therefore untreated, despite the fact that this serious disorder can have significant consequences.
Untreated, sleep apnea can cause high blood pressure and other cardiovascular disease, memory problems, weight gain, impotency, and headaches. Moreover, untreated sleep apnea may be responsible for job impairment and motor vehicle crashes. Fortunately, sleep apnea can be diagnosed and treated. Several treatment options exist, and research into additional options continues.
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