Ugly? Maybe. Common? Yes. Functional? DEFINITELY!

A few days ago I blogged about considering switching from Blogger to WordPress to publish my blog. It was prompted by some blog envy of my friend Sam Bradley, author of Communication and Cognition. Sam has really tutored himself on the craft of finding, creating, and keeping an audience in the online community. Sam switched to WordPress. Lots of the "serious bloggers" that I know use WordPress. I'm serious, right?

I was encouraged when I received more comments from that blog post teasing about a switch to WordPress than I have in a long time. Now, we're not talking tons of comments here...but lately any comment as proof that people are visiting this page is better than none. Most of the comments pushed me in the direction of using WordPress. "It tells the world you're serious about blogging," one person said. "Blogger is so boring and predictable in its design elements," another chimed in.

So, I tried WordPress. I installed WP 2.7 on my host and started reading the program's online documentation. Trouble was...that documentation seemed to apply to an earlier version of the program...as the Dashboard I was staring at was quite different than what they described. No problem...I'm a fairly intelligent person so I figured that I could poke around until I figured it out.

I haven't been more frustrated with something in MONTHS.

I'm all for the open-source concept! I love the fact that people all over the world are trying to make the program better--more widgets, better graphically, etc.--and sharing their knowledge with dopes like me without any sort of profit motive. My understanding was that I just needed to find a template that I like and install it. No problem. First trouble...there are SO MANY to choose from! I spent several hours obsessively poking through beautiful templates of all types. Finally found one that I liked. It was this one:

WordPress Theme Notepad Second

How clean. How professional looking. My little picture could be there to the right, with a blurb about my research next to it...replacing the "Lorem ipsum dolor" stuff.
And Tag Clouds! I love Tag Clouds. That's the one, I thought. Downloaded it, transferred it to my host. Selected it and viola:

Rob's sloppy page.

Could I find how to upload my picture. No way! Could I figure out how to replace the "Lorem ipsum, et al.?" Must be in the About Me thing on the dashboard, right? I mean, it says "About" right there, doesn't it?

Nope. That resulted in another line appearing somewhere. (Honestly, I edited the statement in "about me" prior to publishing this blog...)

I wrestled with that darn page for an entire afternoon. No luck. Feeling clueless, I decided that it just wasn't the time for me to work on migrating to WordPress.




Cool heads prevailed the next morning, with a fresh set of eyes after a good night's sleep.
"Come on, you should be able to figure this out!" I gave myself a pep talk over a cup (or two) of coffee. "Maybe you just chose too complex of a template."

That's it, start slowly. Ease yourself into this open source stuff. Remember, open source, where the information about how to do it is all out there...free...for the user!

So, I tried another template. Honestly, I think I've blocked out the actual name due to the trauma experienced after spending THREE HOURS just trying to figure out how to change the font color for the postings from orange (orange?!? I just don't get aesthetics I guess...how about a nice black color for my simple prose).

I did start learning stuff...thanks to the power of Google. [Google, who btw, provides me with the free...that free both monetarily AND stress-free...blog host I've been using for 3 years]. I Googled and learned how to change the font size on the menu of my page. I learned what a "hover" was...and how to change that font size. Even learned where to change the font color on my menu. But, the fact that it was in hex didn't help me one bit...do all these people using WordPress know the hex color wheel by heart? Oh my gosh, I am outta touch.

But, after copying and pasting figures like #FFF062G (or whatever!) from one place to another, I did change the text of my menu text from one hue to another. You'd think that would at least help me approach the problem of changing the font color in my posting itself. I mean, this is a simple template. It doesn't even have a place for me to put a picture of myself for cripes sake!

Nope. Couldn't find it. After another 45 minutes...lots of grumbling...and having my family members leave the house...I finally gave up.

Blogger.
My blog is blue. It's blue because I clicked a button saying "make it blue."
It's two columns. That's all I can get. Too bad.
But, when I'm ready to blog...it's here for me.
Functionality. I'll take it.

Updates to Publication Web Page

I've been busy as heck lately...working on getting papers assigned to reviewers for the Information Systems division of ICA has been a good portion of the time.

But, I've also had some good news lately.

Two new research publications have come out recently, and another one accepted for publication...but it won't come out until December, 2009!

Find out more about them on my publications page.

Trying to do better

I've been trying to be more consistent about writing.
And, it's been working. More than it has in my recent memory.
Just finished a book chapter with two colleagues, and a journal submission with two others.
Now, I'm working on a journal article that has sat in my "to do" pile for longer than I'm even willing to admit to you.

And, this may be the best part, I'm actually ENJOYING writing again. That hasn't been a feeling I've associated with writing for a long time.

But...one of the reasons I must attribute my improved attitude AND productivity to is that I've stopped doing what, apparently, also afflicts Rob Long of Martini Shot. Listen to this podcast episode (it's only about 3 minutes long) here:

http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/ma/ma070919check_email

Or, you can also read the transcipt there as well...but even though the guy's a writer, his delivery on this is wonderful.

No Happiness in my Ads!

Okay, okay, almost two weeks since my last posting. Sorry. Busy with writing, teaching, and getting ready to collect more data on several studies. More on this later, I'm sure. For now I'm taking some time relaxing by watching the first season of Eureka , which my wife turned me on to earlier this summer. Reluctant at first, not a big "sci-fi" fan...it is a terrific show which we borrowed the DVDs of season 1. So, I guess I'll recommend it.

But, I've figured that I'd try to tell a story I heard from a friend of mine who works in the advertising industry. He's a writer, actually. And, one who is only in "the biz" because it is a way that he can get paid to do what he loves--which is write. He's the one who told me about the podcast Martini Shot which is a short "inside Hollywood" cast that takes a business view rather than gossipy.

Anyway...this story this friend told me is this:

He had a writing meeting at the agency he works for. Now, this guy is a writer in a way that I am not...while I am mostly interested in getting the gist of my ideas across...this guy crafts messages where every word is chosen. And the order in which he places them is consciously planned. He has given me examples of rhthym in advertising copy that I had never thought of. It's quite impressive. So, here he is in a meeting with a client. And when we say client, we mean the SEVERAL representatives from the client. Can't ever have just one decision-maker in the room. There have to be many different folks in there to earn their keep.

So, my friend presents the ad copy...which, remember, he has crafted to conveny the exact message the client wants conveyed. And, in this piece of copy is the word "Happiness." Now, I trust my friend's professionalism and talent enough to know that when he put in the word 'happiness' that was the best word...either because it fit the sentence/tone/rhythm of the sentence or it conveyed the correct meaning better than anything else....Not bliss, mirth, gaiety, deletation...He'd chosen happiness for a reason.

But, one of the clients said "You can't use the word 'happiness' in any of my ads. Change it." Well, now my friend has two questions. First, how much power does this guy have out of all the client reps in the room? In other words, will his devotion to his craft make him go toe-to-toe with this dude? And secondly, What is it that this guy has against the word happiness?

Well, after dancing around the second question for awhile, it the reason is finally revealed. "The word 'happiness' sounds like 'penis,' and I won't have the word penis associated with my business."

You can almost hear the jaws in the room drop. But then, everyone present probably did what I did the first time I heard this story...and probably what you're doing right now....they repeated the word "happiness" to themselves several times under their breath...My gosh, the guy's got a point! Kinda...close enough...

And, it turns out, the guy had enough power to have my friend change the word. After all, there's craft and then there's making a living.