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.

What is your earliest money memory?

Posted by random olio

I can remember when I was nine I had my own paper route. I delivered the evening paper, which meant that after school I would come home, roll and rubber band each newspaper, load them onto my bike and begin delivering them. Rain, shine, snow, and slush. There were gross snow days where my dad would come home early and we would load up my papers in the back of his truck with the tailgate down. I would sit on the tailgate with my legs dangling and he would take me on my route, stop at each house, and I would jump off and throw the newspaper to its spot on the subscriber’s porch.

coin changer like the one I had for my paper route

I sometimes loved those snowy days, as cold as they may have been, just for the chance to hang out on the tailgate, and know my dad was there with me driving along. My money memory is from my paper route. I cannot remember if I actually got paid for delivering papers, or if the only payment was through tips. Each month I would take my collection book to each subscriber’s house and collect the amount they owed for the newspaper. Often I would get a tip. Tips ranged widely in amounts and really depended on who answered the door that day. The generous wife, the miserly husband, the kid who would just pay me the exact amount. Usually the best tips were around Christmas time.

It was a tough time for my family, my mom often worked many jobs to help ensure there was food on the table. I would give my parents my tip money so they could put it in my savings account, and many years later I found out that my parents were not putting it in my savings account, but that my tips were being spent. Maybe it was for the electric or phone bills, or maybe for the food on the table. It does not matter now, I will always remember that as my first money memory. Not the best lesson to learn, but maybe that is what has made me so careful with my money now.

What is your earliest money memory?

Handwriting or typing on a computer/iPad?

Posted by random olio

I am a fast typer. I could not tell you where the keys are on the keyboard. Yet, when the thoughts form in my mind, somehow without really thinking about it my fingers go fast and I watch the letters slide across the screen. How does my mind know so quickly which direction to move my fingers? I do not think about it, it just happens. Except for the random word with a z. That usually slows me down just a bit.

My typing has got me thinking about the lost art of real letters that we write with our fingers. With a pen or pencil. It seems these days schools are not teaching cursive or the art of true handwriting. Kids today know how to text faster than they can order chinese food, they have a language that only they can decipher. Yet, I wonder if true legible handwriting is extinct? Does it mean that in the age of texting, Facebook, and email that we have lost the personal touch and flair that happens when a personal note is shared with another individual?

I did not learn keyboarding, typing, or computers until the fifth grade. These days children are not even learning on computers, they learn on iPads. I have no problem with that, they already learn in a way that no other generation has learned. It is different. Their brains are or will be wired differently. It will breed a generation of adults that think in a way that we cannot even imagine. Yet, I am concerned. There is a design and art in handwriting.

Is handwriting lost forever?

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?

One made me laugh, one made me cry…

Posted by random olio

I only partially watched the Oscars. I was at a neighbors for the night and found that interacting, talking, and eating was much more fun than watching the Oscars. I was a bit bored by Seth MacFarlane too. Later in the evening, we found out the recording my neighbor had set up ended before the Oscars were over, so we actually missed the last three awards (and the ones I was actually curious to watch). So when I found out later that Jennifer Lawrence tripped on the stairs I wanted to learn more about it, see her dress, and of course find out what happened. What poise, charisma, and sassiness Jennifer brings to this world. She took a not fun situation, made the best of it, and even made it funny. That will do more for her brand then walking up the stairs in that big ass dress! If you have not seen it yet, watch her authentic and real response to reporters.

Now are you ready to cry? Not tears of sadness, tears streaming down your face because you cannot stop laughing. A friend shared this on Facebook. I watched it once and laughed so hard I cried. I had Chris watch it and I laughed again even harder. Sometimes we just need to see the wonder that comes so natural to folks when shit happens. You know, because sometimes shit just happens.