Daniel J. Summers » Charter Member of the VRWC

Well, the big push for the Not So Extreme Makeover: Community Edition is complete. While one of our homes still needs some work, the every-day “work, work, work” has been finished. It was a wild two months - the only thing “not so” extreme was the amount of work that went into some of the homes. However, with our extreme efforts following God’s leading, we saw extreme results - physical needs cared for, relationships formed, and a ministry that will live on for years and years.

Now, I’m looking at this blog. “Fred Thompson for President” - heh… Seems it’s gotten a little bit out of date. I notice part 1 of a 3-part “2007 Year in Review” series - this won’t be finished. There is the conspicuous absence of a Martin Luther King, Jr. birthday post and a Sanctity of Human Life post - these will probably go undone as well. Feel free to browse the archives and remember what I’ve said in previous years - I still feel that way. (Of course, with Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright out there, we may still have a race-based post before the year is out.)

The blog is now running WordPress 2.5, so it’s up to the latest and greatest version. Coming very shortly is a huge “Plagiarism Is the Sincerest Form of Flattery” post, which will catch up with all the interesting stuff we missed over the past several weeks. I’ll also get around to replacing Fred’s button with one more timely at some point.

Sorry I haven’t been around here much - it’s certainly not been for lack of things to talk about. Every day, I’ll see or hear something that’s just begging for a-blogging, but I’ve been rather busy. Here in Albuquerque, NM, there’s a community-based project called Not So Extreme Makeover: Community Edition, where we are going to share our abundance with those who need it. Our biggest focus is going to be an area of town affectionately known as the “War Zone.” I am working with them, managing the public web site, as well as developing an interactive database application for the leaders to use to manage the resources needed to make this effort a success. I’ll be back here once April rolls around.

Happy Easter!

It was about five months ago that I put the NightLight Idea theme out here, but I wasn’t really crazy about it. I decided to look for a one-column theme, without a sidebar taking up space the whole way down the page. I found this one, a very minimalist theme, with nice background images, which I customized for use here. It is called “Mimetastic,” and it is now the default theme here for my blog. Since it’s somewhat different, I thought I would take a minute to let you know where all the goodies are…

• Archives, Categories, Daily Reads, and Search are now in drop-down menus on the top of the page.
• Verse of the Day is now the first “entry” on the main page. It isn’t shown on archive, category, or individual pages.
• Theme Switcher, Spam Count, Standards, and I Support are located at the bottom of each page.
• Feed Links and Blog Info are also in the footer of each page.
• Log In and Register can be obtained by clicking the “Admin” link.

As I did with my previous theme switch, the NightLight Idea theme will remain in the theme switcher. So, if you prefer it (or the Pool theme before it), you can view the blog with those themes. They continue to be supported, so if anything looks funky with any of the themes, just let me know. (I don’t do anything with the “WordPress” themes - they’re shipped with the software, and I upgrade them whenever a new version comes out.)

Enjoy!

UPDATE - 14 Jan 08: If you’ve ever used the theme switcher, you may not be seeing the new theme. Just click “Mimetastic” from the theme viewer to see it.

Morgan Freeberg over at House of Eratosthenes has tagged me. I guess I’ve now arrived as a blogger! Anyway, here are my answers. In keeping with his tradition, the questions will be colored red and green.

1. Wrapping or gift bags?

Mix and match. Oddly-shaped gifts are pretty well suited for gift bags. When wrapping for kids, though, paper is definitely the way to go. It’s a lot more fun to rip paper than just pull a few pieces out of a bag.

2. Real or artificial tree?

I grew up with real trees, and really prefer the look and scent. However, the cost and trouble have won out, and we have an artificial tree. Pulling a pre-lit tree out of the box, putting three pieces together, and plugging it in is a lot easier than getting a real tree. Plus, we know that all our ornaments will fit!

3. When do you put up the tree?

Thanksgiving weekend, usually Friday.

4. When do you take the tree down?

The weekend after New Year’s Day.

5. Do you like egg nog?

I used to, but the older I get, the more I think it’s way too sweet.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?

One year, as an “early”Christmas gift, I got a boom box (think mid-80s). It was a high-quality one - AM/FM radio, dual cassette decks, large speakers. It was stolen out of our car at church one Wednesday night.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?

We have a couple of versions, none an actual “scene” that you would put out on a table. We do have one in a snow globe, that you can wind up and hear a song.

8. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?

Undergarments. Now, that’s fine, but as a kid, you’re thinking “What?!?!?”

9. Mail or e-mail Christmas cards?

Mail, on December 1st. (However, this year we were traveling, so we got them mailed late. If you’re reading this and haven’t gotten yours yet, hang on - they’re coming!)

10. Favorite Christmas movie?

It’s a Wonderful Life

11. When do you start shopping for Christmas?

December 26th! Of course, it’s not a constant thing, but we usually wrap up the major shopping by the first week in December. Again, this year has been a little different, as we were on vacation.

12. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?

My wife makes the best hashbrown and chicken casseroles - they’re my favorite! And, since they’re not a specific holiday food, we can have them year-round. (I put up her recipe for her cheesy sausage hashbrown casserole earlier this year.)

13. Clear lights or colored on the tree?

Clear.

14. Favorite Christmas song?

I’d like to gripe about Christmas songs I can’t stand, but this is a positive question, not a negative one. My favorite would probably be “O Holy Night.”

Following the tradition, I’m tagging…

Any author at The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler
Rachel Lucas
Lord Spatula I, King and Tyrant at Spatula City BBS!
sig94 at Signal94

Rules are…:

1. Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share Christmas facts about yourself.
3. Tag random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Merry Christmas!

You may notice something new in the header of each post on this blog. Native tagging support is new to WordPress 2.3, but most themes didn’t support it. I have added it to the “NightLight Idea” theme, and 2.3 added it to the “WordPress Default” theme. Clicking on a tag will show you all posts that have been tagged with the same tag. Of course, since it’s new, most of my old posts aren’t tagged. I’ve tagged the ones back about six months, and I’ll get to the others as I have time. Enjoy!

If you don’t care about the difference between tags and categories, you can stop reading now…

One reason it’s taken me so long to add tags to this theme is that I had a hard time wrapping my head around the concept of a tag versus a category. It may not be scientific, and there was no one moment where a light bulb went on above my head and I said “wow - that’s it!” But the way I understand it (and the way they’ll be used in this blog) is this; categories are broad and should be few, while tags are narrow and may be many. Basically, a category is where you would file the post, were you to print it out and put it in a filing cabinet, or make a card for it in the card catalog of a library - for this post, the category is “Site Info”. A tag is more a collection of keywords or topics that may appear or be referenced in a post. Look at the tag list for this post, and you’ll see what I mean.

And, by the way - I know I have some readers who are WordPress bloggers. Here’s how I did it - it was a piece of cake!

Today, I’m trying something new. One of my friends, Nick, will be joining the blog authoring team (well, I guess that would be creating a team, since it’s been a solo effort up to this point). He’ll be putting thought-provoking information from a viewpoint other than that of us in the VRWC.

I’m sure you lurkers will welcome him the same way you welcome me. And remember too - this is my house. G-rated language and civility on both sides will be unapologetically enforced.

If you’ve ever been here before, you’ll notice that it looks quite a bit different. I like this new theme - the city is alive! (Watch the image for a while…) There are still a few tweaks left, but I think it’s about 95% ready.

Also, seeing how potent Akismet is, I have changed the configuration to no longer require a registration to leave comments. If spam starts seeping through, I’ll lock it back down, but for now, if that’s what’s been stopping you, have at it. In fact, you can practice by leaving your comments about this new theme on this post!

Update (28 Sep / 1936 MDT) - I know the sidebar looks weird in IE6. Upgrade or change is my advice.

Update (28 Sep / 1945 MDT) - On the sidebar, there is now a section called “Choose Your Theme.” This will allow you to view the new theme (NightLight Idea), the old theme (Pool), or the two default themes that come with WordPress. You can still tell me in the comments which one you prefer. I made sure the theme switcher appears on all the themes, so you can switch back and forth at will. (Pool and NightLight Idea have been customized, while the others have not - so some features may not appear on the default themes.)