The only problem with working on so many great blogs for our clients is that my own gets sorely neglected. I’ve had a new design for this site in the works for several months - but I can’t find a spare minute. Also, relatively decent ideas for posts here come and go throughout my day. They are there….then *poof* they are gone again.
Aside from gobs of design work, I did finally begin the writing of the second edition of WordPress For Dummies, due to be released in a few short months. I did finish the writing of the free bonus chapter that should be available for download soon - after it goes through copy editing in the great Wiley Publishing mill!
I recently installed the WP ListCal plugin to publish a bit of my current schedule, which you can view here: Lisa’s Current Schedule. It doesn’t include everything - but it’s hairy enough!
During the course of my day, I try to find things to keep my mind on an even keel — maintaining my Zen and sense of peace, as much as possible. I depend a lot on my iPod to keep my brain balanced. A week ago, my iPod died. It just died!! The battery ran out and it refused to charge. I was devastated, to say the least! I keep several different genres of music on my iPod - from metal to classical… jazz to pop…reggae to folk — and all points in between. I just never know, from day to day, what music is going to soothe the savage beast. Needless to say, my iPod is with me at all times..so when it died, a little piece of me went with it.
Luckily, the wonderful folks at ServerBeach shipped a brand new iPod Nano to me in the mail and it arrived the very day after my old iPod died. Were they reading my mind??? We’ve been doing business with ServerBeach for about 6 years, now. (About this time, last year, I was their official Geek of the Week) We run all of our unmanaged severs through their facilities and I adore their service and customer care. I even had the great opportunity to meet a bunch of them at SXSW in Austin this March. I hugged QT — anyone who does business with ServerBeach should know QT very well - - she is the backbone of their support service and she excels at what she does.
So, back to the iPod. Apparently, when we purchased our most recent server through them, they were running a promotion where they gave away iPods with each new server purchase. I didn’t even know!
Here I thought they were reading my mind and felt sorry for me that my own iPod is broken. Now THAT would be customer service, eh?
If they REALLY were mind readers, they’d be sending someone over to mow my lawn!
So I have my music and my sanity back, which is a good thing. This time of year also brings with it my other big stress-reliever and outlet — my veggie garden! The rule I abide by every single year is that I don’t plant anything until the weekend before Memorial Day. The weather here in Wisconsin just isn’t trustworthy enough until Memorial Day. Before then, I know it can freeze at anytime. So, the big weekend is coming up soon and I already have my seedlings ready to go into the dirt:
- Brocolli
- Cauliflower
- Tomatoes
- Carrots
- Green Onions
- Radishes
- Pole Beans
- Cucumbers
- Various types of peppers - mild and HOT
- Watermelon
- Cantaloupe
- Various herbs… basil, oregano, dill, fennel, taragon, chives, etc, etc
I’ve already been out in the garden a couple times over the last week, or so, just preparing the dirt, getting rid of the weeds, fertilizing the soil, etc. Something about tending to the garden on a daily basis is calming to me. Even if its just 20 minutes spent outside pulling a few weeds and checking on the harvest.. its something I sorely miss during the winter months.
I got my iPod.. .will soon have my garden - - I should be bringing the Zen back around here any day now!
2:52 pm on May 15th, 2008
Hi Lisa! I’m so glad you received your iPod just in time. I really enjoyed having the opportunity to meet you and give you a hug! Let’s keep in touch - especially since it looks like you’re doing a lot of the yard work that I’m facing right now too! LOL!
Thank you for the mention in your blog and I hope to be able to talk to you again soon!
Charnell Pugsley
(QT @ ServerBeach)
11:17 am on May 16th, 2008
QT - thanks for stopping by! I did see the picture of the two of us on the SB flickr stream.. but didn’t post it because that pic of me is horrible! (you look GREAT, tho!) But I showed it to Chris and he’s super jealous he wasn’t there to meet you, too! Out of the two of us, he’s the one who has dealt with you the most, so he thinks it’s unfair lol
Yes, SB saved the day with my iPod - - a thousand times, thanks!
We absolutely should keep in touch, we can swap lawn care horror stories (I have LOTS of those).
I know you guys were at WordCamp Dallas this past March - I was, regrettably, unable to attend. But I will be at SXSW and WordCamp Dallas ‘09 - I hope you will be too!
11:18 am on May 16th, 2008
BTW…Charnell is a name I have to get used to lol
In my head, you’re QT!
12:14 pm on May 16th, 2008
Haha! Everyone, customers and employees call me QT. It’s certainly easier to pronounce and remember! I’ll definitely be at SXSW and WordCamp ‘09, can’t wait to see you again.
I’m looking forward to swapping some horror stories about the lawns, goodness knows I have some good ones, lol. And the picture of us came out GREAT!
Tell Chris I said hello and that the three of us need to get a picture together!
Talk soon!
9:22 am on May 21st, 2008
Lisa,
I just used Wordpress for Dummies to start building a site for my wife’s brick & mortar store and it was a tremendous help. Looking forward to the bonus chapter! Still have a lot to do but I’m eventually going to add a Wordpress resources page to the site for those interested in how the site was created and will link to the book and your site for sure.
7:34 pm on June 7th, 2008
You’re an inspriation! All that work and you have time for “dirt therapy”, as my wife calls it.
I’ve been trying to get her to start her own blog for a while now…I think she’d totally relate to you, so I’ll have to encourage her to start reading!
9:51 pm on June 7th, 2008
Dirt therapy is essential to my sanity!
Thank you for stopping by!