*blend

After posting the previous entry via Windows Live Writer:

Negative:

• Key words did not integrate into my current keywords
• Because no key words, related posts aren’t generated
• Technorati links aren’t generated, again because of the keywords don’t jive with what I use

Positive:

• Image uploaded with the post
• Link to full-size image maintained

I downloaded and installed Andrew Grant’s Keyword tags, which is supposed to resolve the tagging issue, but didn’t. It generates a whole different level of tags.

Let me know how Writer integrates with your blog, especially if you use a different platform. And if you have any tips, tricks, plugins, hacks to turn Live Writer into a working blog-from-windows-desktop app from a simple drafting editor, please pass them on!

Oh, and I’ve found that editing existing entries via Live Writer works great, without breaking any existing tagging, related posts, or linking.

I just installed the beta of Windows Live Writer on my XP desktop. After reviewing it, I thought I’d give it a try. Running a program on my PC in order to post to my blogs seems a little contradictory to me, but on the other hand, I usually end up writing drafts in notepad, then pasting them anyway. This way, I can write the post and actually preview it, and Writer has some really cool plugins that allow me to insert screenshots, Flickr images, and more. I have more options available on my laptop, which is running Vista, but the basics work quite well on their own. This is the first post using Live Writer, and it’s more of a test than a review. But based on my experience so far, I like it. I wish I could set up my Virb and Tumblr blogs on it, as well as my Wordpress installations. It wasn’t immediately apparent if I could, and I haven’t devoted any time to figuring it out.

Writer allows you to set up multiple blogs. The post editing can be done in a semi-preview mode, which shows the entry, as you write it, in the size and layout of your actual blog. It imports the HTML and CSS setting from the blog, and you can preview each post before publishing it. Formatting and editing is easy, and previewing changes is MUCH nicer than doing so in Wordpress. On the other hand, at this point, I don’t know what is going to happen when I click “Publish”.

I would probably use a tool like this much more on my laptop, when I am away from an internet connection and want to work on a blog post, but I see myself drafting my entries here instead of in notepad from now on.

This weekend was the 1st Shining Star Motorcycle Rally in Fort Stockton. Named after a Texas YES! designation the city received, the rally hoped to raise money for various community groups. The group that organized the rally wanted to incorporate the honor of being a Shining Star city into the theme of the rally. The Hardworking Rural Community Award Program annually spotlights Texas communities for economic prosperity and innovation, with the highest award being the Shining Star. Last year, Fort Stockton was singled out as the first recipient of the Trailblazer Hall of Fame Award for scoring at the top for the past three years.

Being the first year, attendance was a little low, and some more vendors would have been great. But they more than made up for it by having my favorite band in the whole world headline the event: the Thumpin’ Puppies. They played all Friday night, and closed out the event on Saturday night.

Here are a few photos from the concert, ride, and rally. Click on thumbnails to view larger photos.
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I have slept for 2-3 hours per night, each night, all week. Because of some persistent server problems, which I couldn’t be reassured that they would not keep happening as they had for the past few weeks, I moved all of my sites and clients to new servers.

All 34 of them.

All of them this week.

I’m tired, brain-mushy, and not just a little irritated that I couldn’t just leave them where they were. I had been with that hosting company for many years, and all they had to do was reassure me that the problem WAS fixed. But since they couldn’t, now I have to keep my fingers crossed that I made a good choice in the replacement company. Only time will tell that.

But, it is now early Friday afternoon, and the last of the sites is now live on the new server. Email seems to be working, I didn’t screw up any of my databases in the process (that was my biggest worry!), and my phone has not rung since 8 am this morning.

For those of you haven’t read any of my previous posts regarding telephones - I HATE PHONES.

So the silence is such a blessing after this week from hell, that I think I’ll go take a nap, then fire up the bike this evening. The Thumpin’ Puppies are playing the Shining Star Motorcycle Rally, and that’s where I plan to be for most of the night.

Thanks for bearing with me while the site was up-and-down for the past 2 weeks. I hope it’ll be steady here on out….

My host is experiencing some server problems, and as you have noticed, the site has been unavailable off and on for quite some time. I am hoping to have this resolved very very soon, so PLEASE bear with me. The host is hoping to have all reliability restored. I’ve been with them for many years now, and this is the first serious issue I’ve had. I know it is frustrating, but I promise it will be better than ever very soon now! Well, at least I HOPE it will be! In the meantime, because of these issues, please use this email address to contact me instead of my westxdesign address:

renee.gaylor[at]gmail[dot]com

Thanks again for your patience!!!