Despite some of the glitches I’ve been having with 2.6, I’ve grown to like most of the new features. Every time I come across a glitch, I research over at the wp forum and usually find some answers or more questions that guide me to finding my own solutions. I take notes and might publish some of them soon on this blog.

I’ve been playing with doing sidebars at the bottom of the page, even an area that has two sidebars, so it’s like a two-column sidebar - only they’re widgetized, so the user can customize it. The possibilities for Wordpress are far-reaching,  proven by loads of WP enthusiasts out there. Darren Hoyt, Justin Tadlock, and others have proven that WP can be a handy little CMS, with magazine style themes.

But even on a simple level, being able to have multiple sidebars in different page placements makes it nice. I tried using Joomla last year and spent a month learning it from a user and designer approach. I kept wondering how many users would have the time or patience to learn it (remember most users are still novice when it comes to this stuff.)  With Wordpress, the functionality can be built into the theme while the user end remains fairly simple. I like that.

Summer in Maine is short and valuable. We make it thru the winter with the promise reward of spring and summer. Although Fall is my favorite, I can’t argue that seeing the lush greens is very inspiring. I like Fall because the air is drier and the bugs are gone.

But even though summer is here, I’m not out in it. My sciatica turned into a full blown disk episode that’s put me on my back for the past month. After the initial week of intense pain, some steroids finally took the inflammation down and allowed the ice packs and chiropractic treatments to take effect. But, I’m on orders to avoid sitting - too much pressure on the disk. Since I want to avoid surgery, I’ll do what I’m told. Some things I’ve re-learned and will share:

• TV is definitely a wasteland, with very few exceptions
• eating while lying down is an art: eat small portions and drink water
• a laptop/notebook computer is a sanity-saver. I found the lapdawg stand and it allows me to work while lying down.
• Pain meds don’t kill pain

Today in Maine and Massachusetts it is Patriot’s Day. For info about what it is, you can use Wikipedia or read an account over at PBS. Briefly, it recognizes the American Revolution at Lexington and Concord. Read the rest of this entry »

The record-breaking snow in northern Maine has produced some interesting drift formations. My friend Linda, shown at left, recently made contact with alien snow forms at Madawaska Lake, north of Caribou. Click on the photo to see an enlarged view.

Folks will be shoveling out there for quite awhile yet.

Well Spring has definitely arrived in Caribou. It’s been a warm, sunny week. Believe it or not it’s been near 70, or at least it feels like it. The photo was taken today, notice the thermometer on the tree (click the photo to see an enlargement). The snow is slowly going but there’s a lot left to go. Fortunately, the rivers seem to be doing okay.