Misc.

5 Reasons Why I Love WordPress

by Jay on September 7, 2011 · 0 comments

in Misc.

I love WordPress. It’s true. If you’re unfamiliar, WordPress is a powerful and highly popular open-source (free) content management system. WordPress powers 14.7% of the top million websites in the world and 22 out of every 100 new active domains in the US are running WordPress.

I use it to power this website and I recommend it to anyone looking for an easy way to manage a website without being an HTML expert.

Here are the 5 reasons why I love WordPress:

1. It’s an awesome content management system (CMS). A CMS allows a website owner to make updates to a website without knowing any HTML. WordPress is one of the best out there. It’s extremely easy-to-use and can be customized to serve just about any website’s CMS needs.

2. It’s non-proprietary. WordPress is open-source, meaning that anyone can use it without having to pay annual/monthly licensing fees. It’s free to use and can be used for unlimited websites. You do still have to pay for a domain (i.e. www.acmecompany.com), website hosting and a programmer (if you want a customized WordPress site).

I despise proprietary CMS systems, mainly because there is typically a web development company attached to it that has locked a unknowing client into some kind of ridiculous long-term/expensive commitment. Most of the time, if you walk away from a proprietary system, you have to start all over with a new website because you can’t take it with you. Not with WordPress. There are countless developers out there that can pick up the site for you without major headache.

3. It’s relatively easy for DIYers to learn. Want to build your own WordPress site? You don’t even have to know how to install it. Hosting companies like GoDaddy have WordPress hosting accounts where everything is set up for you. All you have to do is log in using the username/password they gave you and you’re up and running. There are so many great resources out there (see below). All you really need is a desire to learn, time and your friend Google.

4. There are tons of great free resources available. Anything and everything you could need from free themes to awesome plugins are out there. There are countless developers out there building free tools for WordPress. Even the paid themes and plugins are very reasonable.

Below are some of my all-time favorite plugins (all used on this website). I’m currently using Thesis as my theme and it’s well worth the money.

5. It’s SEO-friendly. SEO stands for search engine optimization. Google loves WordPress sites. It’s true. I can’t necessarily explain all the technical aspects here but WordPress is built in a way that makes your site easy for the search engines to index. I’m sure it has to do with the fact that WordPress started off as a blogging engine and that search engines absolutely love blogs because of their rich and highly-relevant content.

I’ve been using WordPress for my own personal sites for the past five years and I love it. I typically recommend it to anyone that wants a highly customizable and easy-to-use CMS.

Why do you love WordPress? Feel free to leave your comments below.

Here’s My Three Cents…

by Jay on July 30, 2010 · 0 comments

in Misc.

When I left full-time employment with New West back in September 2009 to start my own company, I went on a COBRA insurance plan. This allowed me to have full insurance coverage for my family. A couple of months ago, New West hired Ceridian to administer its COBRA insurance program.

Once I accepted my new position at Power Creative, I called Ceridian to cancel my COBRA insurance policy. They told me that they couldn’t cancel my coverage because I had an outstanding balance of $.03 (I later found out that they had sent me two invoices. The second one was for $.03 more than the first.). Guess which one I paid?

I was told that I couldn’t cancel my policy until I paid the $.03.

Seriously? Let’s think about this for a second. I had to attach a $0.44 stamp to my payment, postal workers had to sort and deliver the envelope and then Ceridian had to pay someone to sort through all the mail and put my payment in the correct box.

After I got over the silliness of the whole situation, I mailed in my payment…

Update: I canceled my policy today. I guess they accepted my payment. :)

Protect Yourself from Malicious Email Attachments

by Jay on March 3, 2010 · 0 comments

in Misc.

Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of SPAM emails with attachments. The “sender” tells me that I need to open the attachment to provide them with information.

This might sound obvious but you should never open attachments from people you don’t know, especially if it’s a weird-looking attachment (i.e. download.exe or certification.txt). No reputable organization is going to get information from you this way.

You can’t assume that your SPAM filter or software is going to keep all malicious emails out. The examples below were successfully delivered to my inbox:

Example #1 – There are a lot of tell-tale signs that this email from “Bank of America” is fraudulent.

  1. The email is from auto.bot@verify.com. Does that even sound legit?
  2. It’s sent to “undisclosed-recipients”
  3. There is an HTML attachment (restore account.html)
  4. I don’t bank with Bank of America

spam

Example #2 – This one from “UPS” isn’t quite as obvious as the first example. Here’s what I saw:

  1. UPS would have probably left a notice on my front door. How would they have possibly gotten my email address anyway?
  2. The notice is almost three months after the supposed delivery date
  3. There is a text file attachment (_Certification_.txt)
  4. The copy in the email just doesn’t sound like something that would come from UPS. I don’t think they even say “United Parcel Service” anymore

ups_spam

Here are some things you can do to protect yourself from malicious email attachments:

  1. Don’t open emails or attachments from people you don’t know or that seem “fishy” (Pay special attention to the subject line and who the email is supposedly from)
  2. Have anti-virus software installed on your machine. Most of them will check incoming email (assuming you’re using Microsoft Outlook) automatically. AVG is a good free one
  3. Make sure that whatever email program you are using blocks images in all incoming emails (In Outlook, go to Tools>Trust Center to block images). Blocking images does two things. First, the spammer can’t track that you’ve opened the email (even if it was previewed in your preview pane). Without getting too technical, spammers need images to display in the email to track whether or not the email was opened. Second, malicious programs can’t automatically execute in these emails when opened

Just be careful with attachments. It it doesn’t feel right, don’t open it.

Problems With Microsoft Word 2007 Crashing

by Jay on January 22, 2010 · 0 comments

in Misc.

I’m a big time user of Microsoft Office. I’m constantly using Outlook, PowerPoint, Word and Excel. For the past couple of years, I’ve been using a PC laptop running Microsoft Vista.

If you’ve used Vista, you know that there always seems to be a problem (at least there has been for me).  Once every couple of months, Word crashes on me. I can’t open documents by double-clicking on them and I can’t select text. It’s very frustrating. Each time this happens, I have to go and look for the solution online. I found out that it’s a problem with a corrupt file in my registry.

Even though I’m planning on upgrading to Windows 7 eventually, I thought I’d go ahead and post instructions on how to fix this problem:

  1. Exit all Office programs.
  2. Open the Registry Editor by clicking on your “Start” button and typing “regedit” (without the quotes) into the “Start Search” box.
  3. Locate the following registry subkey: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Data
  4. Right click on “Data” and rename it to something like “olddata.”
  5. Exit Registry Editor.
  6. Start Word.

I completed the Rodes City Run 10K (that’s six miles)!

by Jay on March 18, 2008 · 0 comments

in Misc.

rodes_city_run_2008.jpg On Saturday, I participated in the second leg of the Louisville Triple Crown , the Rodes City Run . The course started at Broadway and 4th Street and ended up behind Louisville Slugger Field.

I ended up walking most of the race like I did in the Anthem 5k. My body just doesn’t want to run. The whole time I was out there my body kept telling me to stop the race. Fortunately, I persevered.

The biggest problem I had at the Anthem 5k was that I had to use the restroom the entire race and was in pain. On Saturday, I got downtown with plenty of time to spare and made sure I found the porta-potties. As soon as the race started, my body started telling me that I had to find a restroom. I knew there was no way that I could make it six miles with having to use the restroom so I ended up running into a Thornton’s on Broadway. I sure felt silly running into Thornton’s but there were already a couple of other people in there.

After three miles, my time was around 44 minutes. It was slightly ahead of my 3-mile time at the Anthem 5k and included my 2-minute run into Thornton’s.

Sadly, almost everyone out there beat me. My final time was 1:32:59 and I finished 5,388 out of 5,958. I only did better than 103 men. The guy that finished first did the entire race in less than 29 minutes. Oh well. I guess I’ll stick with my day job and not enter the professional running circuit.

I finished the Anthem 5K!

by Jay on March 1, 2008 · 1 comment

in Misc.

32198-111-004f.jpg This morning I ran (I use the term “ran” loosely) the Anthem 5k Fitness Classic in downtown Louisville. The race began and ended at Louisville Slugger Field. There were a whole lot of people down there. 6,892 people to be exact. I ended up walking most of it. It wasn’t because of poor physical condition. Well, that was part of the reason, I guess. When I got to Louisville Slugger Field, I couldn’t locate a bathroom. I figured I’d be okay once the race started. Man, was I wrong. Every time I ran and my feet hit the ground, it felt like my bladder was getting shook around inside my body. I was really worried that I was going to have an accident. So I ended up walking most of the rest of the race. It slowed me down but having an accident would have been even worse…

I finished the race in 44:46 minutes. I placed 5,702th overall and 2,822th out of the 3,055 men. I was hoping to finish better but I’m proud that I finished faster than over 1,000 people. Okay, so most of the people I beat were much older than me or pushing their kids in a stroller. I’m still proud that I completed the race.

Next up is the Rodes City Run (10K) on March 17.

I’ll definitely be sure to find the restroom before the next race. I’m not making that mistake again.

I’m running the Louisville Triple Crown (for some reason)

by Jay on February 27, 2008 · 0 comments

in Misc.

For some wild and crazy reason, I decided to sign up to run in the Louisville Triple Crown . It includes three different races:

  • Anthem 5K Fitness Classic run/walk – Saturday, March 1
  • Rodes City Run (10K) – Saturday, March 15
  • Papa John’s 10 Miler – Saturday, March 29

I’ve never run an official race before. Heck, I don’t remember the last time I ran period. Since my first son was born in 2004, I haven’t done much. It’s sad…

I just don’t want to be that guy that finishes last. I’m in horrible shape but I thought it would be a pretty proud accomplishment for me to finish all three.