Virginia Is For Families

I talked to my friend Eddie Askowe about ways to save money on gas since it now is officially over four dollars per gallon around here. Eddie and I go back a long ways although at some point we decided on different turns in the road as Robert Frost might say.

Eddie is a practical guy and this is what he told me he is doing to save money on gas.

“First of all I took the back seat out of my car. I hardly ever use it and it costs money to lug that thing around. When the kids ride with us they bring pillows and sit on the floor.”

What about seat belts Eddie?

“I didn’t take out the seat belts. They don’t weigh very much.”

I think I get the picture. What else do you do?

“Well I also took out the spare tire and the jack. And since there isn’t anything in there I unbolted the trunk hood and stored it in the garage. Water just runs right through there. It gets a little rusty but rust doesn’t weigh much.”

Really? Your vehicle must be pretty light and I can see how that would save you money on gas. You really have thought this out.

“Just wait a second. I’m not done saving money by lightening the load. I don’t take my wife with me anymore. She gets embarrassed anyway riding with me now so we just leave her at home. So that lightens the load considerably. And then I cut the engine off every chance I get.”

What do you mean Eddie? How many chances do you get between here and there?

“Plenty! Steep hills are easy. But not everyone realizes you can coast a very long ways once you hit one hundred miles per hour.”

OMG Eddie!

“Drafting works wonders too. Get behind an eighteen wheeler and head on down the road! I like to spend time at the area truck stops and get to know some of these guys. You know they will give you a tow if they like you! That’s the ultimate gas saver right there. I always carry a rope because you never know when one of your good buddies is going to want some company. It’s lonely out there.”

Eddie you always come up with unique ways of doing things. That’s amazing.

“Yeh. Be prepared to jump on the brakes.  And wear a helmet!”

“Oh I almost forgot. I took out the AC unit of course. That was the first thing to go but it gets pretty hot in there during the summer months. So I sometimes like to drive around in my underwear. My wife got me these some nice purple ones and they are kind of a fashion statement. Did you know that you don’t have to wear shoes when you’re driving? That’s just one of them rumors probably started by a shoe salesman or somebody who likes shoes. My wife likes shoes and she refuses to come along without them. She won’t dress down to her underwear either.”

“In fact I think she may be getting ready to have me served with divorce papers so that will mean the kids won’t be coming along much anymore. That will save some more on fuel right there.”

Eddie I am sorry to hear about that.

“Thank you but I think it will be alright. I’m going home right now and talk with her. I’m going to propose we just buy a few bicycles and forget about the car. Maybe we can just leave it in the driveway from now on. Turn it into a giant planter and grow vegetables in it. Roll it under the shade tree during the hottest time of the day.”

That’s right Ed. Be a trend setter. I bet you could grow quite a few squash in that open trunk and the vines will be up your antenna in no time. Take care big guy!

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Lifehacker weighs in on saving money on gas

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I am thankful for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home…. I am thankful for the piles of laundry and ironing because it means my loved ones are nearby. ~Nancie J. Carmody

Law of the Workshop: Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner. ~Author Unknown

Just a cheerful photo to end the blogging day on a positive note. Part of my problem is that I manage to get down on myself for not being better at doing so many things. From fixing toilets to making software work the way it is supposed to I generally fail miserably. And I have a father who can fix anything.

Well, he might not be able to fix the space shuttle if it was supposed to fly tomorrow.

The recent video I posted here about the doctor who had a stroke was very informative because it went into great detail about the left and right sides of the brain. Some of us use one side a great deal more than the other. Fortunately or unfortunately blogging usually requires that we use BOTH sides in equal measure.

It’s a balancing act only a Libra could really appreciate.

What side of your brain do you use more? Do you feel frustrated sometimes because you have trouble fixing things? Why don’t they have more courses in school about how to fix stuff that is going to break down on us?

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The only really good place to buy lumber is at a store where the lumber has already been cut and attached together in the form of furniture, finished and put inside boxes. ~Dave Barry

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Safety is a cheap and effective insurance policy. ~Author Unknown

Prepare and prevent, don’t repair and repent. ~Author Unknown

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This is the next in my series of posts for folks who have never blogged before and have some basic questions and a need for explanations that hopefully leave out no pertinent details. Our ultimate goal is to install and make functional a very cool plugin called NextGen Gallery.

The steps we have been taking here are baby blogging steps but I wish I had found something like them last summer when all of my blogging efforts began. Maybe there are some others who are just beginning and missed learning about it all beforehand.

We have covered unzipping and uploading files. And now we are going to begin uploading plugins.

Before we upload NextGen Gallery we are going to add Plugin Central as I noted earlier. This will make all of our plugin chores much easier.

And prior to this we are going to upload one other little beauty. It is called Wordpress Database Manager (WP-DBManager) and I use it prior to uploading anything into my blog. Also it has a setting for automatic backup of the database and I receive a backup file in my email once per day.

Because of the complexities of plugin installation it is imperative to back things up before making changes. And getting in the habit of doing this early is the best way to avoid sad circumstances later on. I am assuming that this plugin plays well with your setup of course. It did with mine.

So here is the download location.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-dbmanager/

Go here and download the file into your computer. Unzip it as we discussed in the earlier post. Put it in your plugin file. Open Total Commander and locate the file. Upload it to your blog. Go to Admin/plugins and activate it.

It’s a very easy process once you have done it a few times. Now click on Dashboard in the very top/left hand corner of your window right below the tool bar in your Wordpress blog. You should see the name of your blog just below it and a few other things just below the name of your blog starting with Write and Manage. To the right of them will be the terms Design and Comments. And then you should see some others based on your individual setup. Database is what we are looking for and click on it when you find it.

Now you will see just below Database a line of terms starting with Database and ending with Uninstall WP-DBManager. The second term is Backup DB. And we should do this as we prepare to install a second plugin called Plugin Central.

But we have run out of time and space once again. Next time we will install Plugin Central. Hopefully I have not left out anything so far.

Bye Bye for now.

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How can you be a sage if you’re pretty? You can’t get your wizard papers without wrinkles. ~Bill Veeck

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Wisdom is the quality that keeps you from getting into situations where you need it. ~Doug Larson

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What? Unzipping the file is a very important part of the process. Nothing is going to happen until you do it. And it took me a long time to figure out how to do this in an effective manner. But after long experimentation I have found two effective ways to make it happen. Both work well. But only one way is free. You have to pay for the other.

Are you still here? Let’s move on. The paying method involves a guy in a cool maroon dress. Actually he is a wizard and he will take care of things in an effortless manner.

http://www.pc-shareware.com/unzipwiz.htm

The second program will do the same thing but it is not quite as intuitive. Still I have used it so we can’t say it is difficult.

http://www.camunzip.com/

Let’s start with this one. Download and open the program. Locate a zip file somewhere and click on it. Immediately the CAM UnZip program will appear with your zip file. In the top/left location it has Extract to: and the place it would like to go with your files. It would like to go to the desktop.

However you can create a file and put it in the file if you would like to do this. Right click on the START button down at the bottom/left of you monitor screen. Click on Explore. Click on your local disk (C:) and look below it until you come to your Documents and Settings files. Click on this and look on the right side of the window. Here are the files contained in Documents and Settings. Go there with your cursor and right click your mouse. Choose new and create New Files. Then click on New Files. You will see a lot of empty space on the right half of your window. Right click on your mouse three more times and create three files called Plugins, Themes and Misc.

Now go back to the CAM Unzip program and click on the half inch square box next to Extract to: and the files that are exhibited next to it. Your file tree should appear. Find C: and find Documents and Settings. Under it find New Files and the other three files you have created. Left click on Plugins and it should appear in the box next to Extract to:

That’s it! The Unzip Wizard has a similar and even easier process but we have run out of time and space. We have reached the point where we can actually unzip NextGen Gallery. I am sorry it has taken so long but I wanted to do this in a way that would demonstrated to someone with no computer knowledge how to do it. Things should go more quickly and perhaps be more interesting from this point. Later.

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More Writing About Blogging

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