Category Archives: geek

If This, Then That…

This is just a test of a couple new recipes I have at If This, Then That. I really enjoy this site although I’m sure I’m not using it to its full potential. That being said, I had created a recipe that would send me a text message any time someone in my area made a “for sale” post concerning Concept2 rowing machines. After a year, I was notified of one in my price range and I bought it 2 hours after it was posted. IFTTT has saved me money!

While the rower I bought is an older model (Model B, last made in 1993), it’s in fine condition and I paid less than half of its true value. These rowers really hold up over the years if properly maintained. Another reason I wanted a Concept2, is their customer service and because they can be retrofitted with new parts. I ordered a few parts for mine (new handle, new foot boards, new seat rollers) and with that added cost, I’m still sitting lower than my rower’s true value. Fun times ahead!

grum.com – Still Tweaking

While I’m done with the blog for the time being, I’m still tweaking the rest of the site. Most of the content on it is at least 3 years old. When I got it back up a couple weeks ago, I didn’t take the time to update the content as I really just wanted to get the site live again with a refreshed look. Now that it’s live, I can take the time to go back and update the content. :)

Today, after finishing the “Grum” theme on the blog, I updated the Portfolio section. I added some more sites and graphics that I have worked on in the recent past. I also added an updated version of my résumé.

In the very near future (most likely before the week is up) I will be updating the rest of the site as well.

Skinning the Blog, Part II

Well sir, I think I’m done here!

I originally started out with a copy of twentytwelve. My thought was to modify the necessary items and make it my own. I worked on it for a about a day and noticed that I was changing a lot of HTML and PHP. I wasn’t sure I liked this as it was killing the widgets. I took a few days off.

Then, last Tuesday, I went to a Meetup of the FredWebTech group. The night’s presentation: building child themes in WordPress. How timely! I enjoyed the presentation and decided to scrap what I had already done and start over, this time only copying what I needed to from twentytwelve and overriding the original files with ones in my child them. It worked so well that I did it all this morning in about 3 hours.

The only HTML I changed was adding some custom stuff for the header to bring it inline with my site’s header and in the footer. I also added one tag to the sidebar files. The rest was all CSS updates. Adding an ID to the body tag made it easy to override the parent theme’s CSS.

Feel free to poke around. If you see anything amiss, please leave a comment on this post and I will fix it post-haste!.

After this morning’s work, I feel that WordPress themes are easier to work with than I anticipated. At least, building a child theme is. ;)

A Problem Solved: PC to MAC Angst…

I’ve always been a PC person but switched to Mac about 2.5 years ago when I started my current gig. It was surprisingly easy to make the switch and I really had no complaints.

Except one:
I missed the “Home” and “End” button functionality. When in Windows and editing a file with multiple lines of text, these buttons will take you to the start or end, respectively, of the line on which the cursor sits. On a Mac, these buttons take you to the start or the end of the file. Bart no like.

Since my switch, I’ve always hated this. I have a coworker who consistently tells me that the same result can be had by using the up/down arrows on the keyboard. “Works every time,” he says. Well, it works every time there is only one line of text, otherwise it just moves the cursor up or down the lines. Not helpful and he still tries to tell me this when I bemoan my fate.

Last Friday, another coworker clued me in, and I’m really surprised that it’s taken this long for the information to get to me. So, allow me to elucidate:

When your cursor is on a line of text and you want to jump to the start or end of that particular line, then click CMD+ (left arrow, right arrow), respectively. Simple, really, and I’m again surprised that no one told me sooner. Same functionality as the Home and End buttons on a PC.

Genius! Now, I’m back at 100% effectiveness. ;)

I always feel like somebody’s watching me…

So I was looking at the Analytics for yesterday’s post and there was one hit from the following network:

adobe systems inc.
I’ll bet the typo is gone in the next Fireworks update. Just goes to show you, they are listening! It’s nice to know, too. Just as long as it’s not Big Brother. Shhh!

Fireworks CS4 Typo

It’s not a huge deal. Hey, mistakes happen all the time. I’m just surprised to see it happen in an Adobe product, as polished as they like to be and considering how much one has to pay to use the damn things!

I was in the preferences window for Fireworks CS4 (Mac, and at work), just looking around, when I moused over a check box and there it was. I did a double take. I moused over a couple more times to be sure it wasn’t me. Nope, not me. There is, indeed, a typo in Fireworks CS4! Ha! I love it.


Did a quick Google search and it looks like I might even be the first to notice. Although, given the number of Geeks in the world, I’d be surprised if I really am the first. Either way, it’s kind of like an Easter Egg for me. :)

Take care!