WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org

I like to have freedom. I like to do my own thing.

What does that mean at this moment? I want to be able to customize and do whatever I want on my blog. I feel constrained by what I am able to do within my free WordPress.com blog. Each time I try to expand and add functionality, I find I am not able to do so because I am using WordPress.com. So I have decided to figure out what I need to do to switch to WordPress.org.

My questions:

Do I need to learn CSS? I found an online site that has exercises to help you learn CSS. Am I am able to easily do it without learning any new technical language?
Can I easily shift my content from WordPress.com to WordPress.org through my domain provider?
Do most domains have an easy interface connected to WordPress.org?
If I switch to WordPress.org, will it be hard to customize my site? Should I hire someone to customize it?
Is there anything I would miss if I move to WordPress.org? Should I stay on WordPress.com?

Those of you that are bloggers out there in the blogosphere, what are you doing? There seem to be so many different widgets and functionality I can partake of if I expand my horizons away from WordPress.com.

Please share what you know and have learned. I need tips, ideas, and comments on taking this leap.

Yahoo’s New Employee Policy – Thumbs Up or Down?

Posted by random olio

What do you think of Yahoo’s policy of no longer allowing employees to work from home? I am a bit shocked. I worked from home for over eight years and, I can tell you, I was way more productive than I would have ever been if I was in the office. I will tell you why:

Fewer distractions. I was able to focus on what I needed to accomplish, be dialed into conference calls and meetings as needed, and have the quiet space for the true work I needed to do each day.
No wasted meetings. If I was on a conference call, and the part of the call had nothing to do with my job, I could put my phone on mute and handle other work. When the meeting focus came to my area, I could unmute my phone and participate. That is hard, if nearly impossible, to do when you are in the office.
No time wasted traveling to and from work. I worked longer hours when I worked from home. I also had more “me” time, felt more focused, did not have to waste time on what to wear that day, commuting, going out to lunch. In the end, I was more focused by having my dedicated office space at home.

Working from home is not for everyone. As someone who worked from home and managed a team of employees who also worked from home, there is a respect and privilege that comes from working from home. It means that you do not abuse the unique opportunity for others. I always looked at what I and my team were able to do as trendsetting for the future. If we could make it work, it could mean that others in the future might have the option for a similar opportunity. It also means that the manager has to be aware of what it is like for that at-home worker, and they have to manage differently than you would in the office. You do not have the face-time you have in the office, so you have to be creative in order to connect with employees in different ways.

Based on the experience I had, it shocks me that a company that has already been receiving a bit of a bad rap in the news lately would go backwards in time to not allow employees to work from home. It feels like a decision based on fear. Rather than trusting employees and setting up a system of accountability, it seems like they are removing that trust and bringing everyone back into the office. It is like not trusting your kids to drive on their own when they get a license. Eventually, they have to make their own mistakes and learn from them.

An interesting side note: In the article I linked to above, it says that Mayer (CEO of Yahoo) has built a nursery in her office. Seriously? That will not bode well from a PR perspective. Consumers and customers will roll their eyes and find that just maybe this is all a double standard.

What do you think?

Do you know about VAWA?

Posted by random olio

VAWA is the Violence Against Women Act. Keep reading. It is important to know for your daughters, wife, sisters, niece, and friends. “The Violence Against Women Act is a United States federal law passed in 1994, reauthorized in 2000, again in 2005, and is up for reauthorization this year.” In my post last Friday I talked about One Billion Rising. A campaign that raises awareness calls an end to violence against women. Last week, the Senate passed the VAWA act providing $659 million over five years for some domestic violence programs. Next week the House of Representatives will vote on VAWA. That means there is still time to communicate with your Representative. This can mean a local rape crisis center stays open. It can mean women’s shelters in your community stay open. It can mean that another woman is safe.

This is an issue that is near and dear to me.

Please support VAWA. It is not something we should take for granted. We need to do what we can to continue to raise awareness and not assume that because VAWA was in effect in the past, that it will be passed next week. We all can remember presidential elections that we thought, oh it is a shoo in, and things happened differently. As I think about the many recent events where we have seen violence in general, Newtown, Connecticut, Colorado Theater shootings, the list goes on, I wonder about the violence happening to women that we do not see on the nightly news.

This Huffington Post article states:

“On average, four to five women are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends each day in the United States as a result of domestic violence. Over 200,000 people are sexually assaulted each year in this country.”

Not a statistic we want to think about, but one we should ponder. This is a no brainer for me. This should be part of being a world citizen, honoring and protecting all humans. It is 2013, we should no longer have to talk about violence against women. We should not have to differentiate between men and women. The reality is we do have to fight for this initiative. Speak up. Let your voice be heard.

Are you planning for your future?

Posted by random olio

Have you thought about where you might want to retire? I have not. Maybe it is my age, but I still feel like I have too much to experience in life before I know what I want to do in my retirement. However, whether I know where I want to retire or not, I am going to do all I can to plan for how I will support myself in retirement. The place will eventually be clear to us. In the meantime, we are doing what we can to put ourselves in the right financial place for retirement.

I have strong opinions about setting up a plan for saving for our future. I will tell you why. Just like you might eat well, or exercise so you can be around for many years to come for your children, you have to do the same with your financial future. When my parents passed on, they had not a single penny put away for retirement. I do not blame them. They had to use whatever income they did have to make sure we had food on the table. My mom often worked a few jobs to make that happen. They did not have the luxury to even think about their retirement, and yet when they passed on in their fifties they had not a penny to their name. I have no idea what they would have done if they had lived. Would I, or my siblings be taking care of them?

Life is different now. It used to be that folks would have a pension and Social Security. These days I am not sure that Social Security will be around when I am in retirement. Because of that possibility, Chris and I believe we have to do our own part to ensure we have the funds available to retire. If Social Security is around then it will just be icing on the cake. Yet, according to Fidelity Investments, “41% of couples surveyed in 2011 do handle retirement decisions together—which leaves about one in six couples who don’t.” It is an interesting article, definitely worth reading further.

Yet, I am a bit shocked. 41% is not enough. I am grateful for the 41% of couples that are talking, but what about the other 59%? And, of the 41% that are talking, are they saving, or just talking? How many of you are taking care of your future? Have you begun saving for retirement? It is not an exciting topic, but an important one to ensure that we can continue to live, retire, and enjoy our future.

Paper book or e-Reader?

Posted by random olio

I am torn. Or maybe you should call me old school. I like to read from the actual book. I have not been able to transport myself into the world of the eReader. The last time I checked my local library they did not have that many options available for eReaders. Call me cheap, but due to the high volume of books I read each year, I cannot justify purchasing every book that I read. Thus, I continue to kick it old school, and read from the paper copy itself. But, I still keep going back and forth, paper book or eReader? Should I convert?

my current library books

There have definitely been times when I have opened up a library book and been grossed out. Dead bugs, human or pet hair, food crumbs, and other stains. Yet, what I appreciate about the nasty grossness left from the previous borrower is that the book was loved, enjoyed and used. Someone might have been snuggling with their dog, in their favorite chair while reading the book. Another just made an amazing meal and could not put down their book, wine, and cheese. Whatever the situation, there is a history and a past to each book, and I am a part of that history.

I do often think how handy it would be to have each book on the iPad. Whenever I travel I think about the many books I try to stuff into my suitcase at the last minute. Or when I am out waiting for someone I tend to bring a book along, but maybe I should just bring my iPad. Not to mention the many, many trips we make to the library each month (whether to pick up or return library books). I am often looking at a computer screen all day and have less desire to snuggle up with that novel using another mobile device.

So my dilemma still stands. What are the pros and cons of letting of switching to an eReader? For those of you that have made the leap, what made you do it? Are you glad you have gone to the other side? Do you miss anything about picking up a book?

Please share I am curious what you think!