Becky, Jared and Sarah
FYI
Hey All You RSS Feed Readers!
Jun 29th
I updated the look of our website! There’s been a ton of changes I’ve made to it. First off: New theme. I wasn’t necessarily sick of the old theme, but it was getting dated. I went on a theme search that made use of a couple Web 2.0 styles and some cool effects, and I found one I liked. Second: After a little tinkering around, I figured out how to add all those button icons at the top. If you hover over one, it will peek out, and if you continue to hover over it, it will tell you where it will take you if you click on it. I thought that was pretty cool. Third is the new sidebar things. I guess I’ve always been able to add these sidebar widgets, but they didn’t look that good until now. Fourth, I changed the way people submit comments. You’ll notice something that says “Leave a verified comment.” Just click on that and sign in using a service. There are more details in the previous blog post. If I can ask everyone to do me a favor, it will be for everyone to leave a comment on this post telling me what they like/don’t like about the new site, what I should add to the site or what you’d like to see more of posting-wise, and try leaving a comment using the new system. So all you RSS reader people, go to the actual website and try it out!
Log In to Comment
Jun 25th
I’ve implemented a new system that requires people to log in to comment. You just use a Google, Yahoo, or Facebook account to log in. I’m using a highly secure and safe system to do this. The paid version of this system is used by places like National Geographic, Fox News and Overstock.com for their social authentication systems. So I will never see passwords or anything because you’ll be logging in through a third party system. I’ve done this because we’ve been getting some spam and I’m hoping that by requiring a login it will block it all.
If you find ANYTHING wrong with the system, please email me and let me know. I’ve tested it out a bit, but not thoroughly. I’ve posted a couple comments with it so I know it generally works. If you find a page or an instance where it doesn’t work, please please please let me know so I can either troubleshoot it or disable the system until I can get the bugs worked out.
Spam Control
Jun 9th
So I guess our blog is pretty popular with some certain keywords that spam bots like to look for. It’s funny because only a couple of our posts get spam (like when we went to Freedom Land a long time ago). So when I noticed some spam coming through, I set the blog up so that I would have to manually approve comments before they got posted publicly. I also set it so that people who I’ve approved comments from before get automatically posted and I don’t have to manually approve their comments (like, Nicia’s comments always get through no problem without me doing anything). So eventually, once every family member has posted a comment, they’ll all get whitelisted and I don’t have to manually approve comments anymore. But about every day or two, I get a comment that needs to be approved by me and it’s clearly spam and I don’t know why the spam filter didn’t catch it. I’ve wanted commenting to be as easy as possible for the reader, but all these spam messages are getting annoying. So I’ve looked into spam blockers and found two ways to deal with the spam. Unfortunately, they’re going to require a little bit more work on your part, so that’s why I’m asking you all to make a choice. Here are the two choices:
1) Captcha Images – You know those images that have crazy stretched out letters or backgrounds made to look funky and to make sure you’re a real person websites will have to type out the letters? Yeah, I can implement that. I took a look at an example Captcha image (because sometimes they can be TOO crazy) and it’s only four letters long and pretty easy to read. So when you enter the Captcha letters, your comment will automatically go through because it knows you’re a real person and not a spam bot.
2)Math equations – The other way to validate that you are a real person is by making you do math. While posting a comment, the system will ask you a simple math question, like “What is the sum of 9+9?” in which case you would enter “18″ into the box. With the correct answer, your comment will automatically go through because it knows you’re a real person and not a spam bot.
So what do you think? Since you are the ones who would have to put the extra effort into it, which type of system would you prefer? I know some people don’t like doing math, but sometimes the Captcha images can get crazy (either that or I’m just not good at reading them). Post your comments and let me know which system I should use to make sure only real people post comments to our blog. Thanks!
Breastfeeding
Apr 30th
So, I am planning on breastfeeding my baby. I also plan on working part time (really less than 15 hours a week), so I will want to pump and incorporate bottles into my feeding program. I’ve prepared myself so far for this endeavor by getting nursing covers and looking at reviews for different breast pumps. Needless to say I am still very much a novice in this area.
What I was thinking for pumps was these:
It is a The First Years – miPump Double Breast Pump. I liked it mostly because it was a electric pump under $100. (I can’t believe how much pumps cost). However it only gets 3 stars (out of 5), so some people love it and some people hate it. So, I have mixed feelings, I probably won’t get this one after all, maybe I’m just attracted to the cute bag and low price.
This is a Medela Harmony Manual Breastpump. It gets 4 stars on Target.com and babiesrus.com with hundreds of reviews. It looks like most people generally like it.
So my questions for all those mother’s out there are these…
What products were essential for you for breastfeeding?
If you used a pump, did you like the manual pumps or electric? Is an electric pump worth the price?
If you used a pump, did a certain type or brand work really well for you?
If you used a pump, was a certain type or brand really awful?
Are there any bottles that you especially liked?
Do you have any tips or advice regarding feeding a baby (that you will be willing to post on the internet)?
If you want to give me advice but do not want to post it on this blog you can e-mail me. My e-mail is my first name (no space) last name @gmail.com. (all lower case)
PLEASE COMMENT. Thank you for the advice.
Fish Tank
Apr 28th
We got a new fish tank. It is huge! Our fish were getting a little big for our old fish tank so we decided to up grade to a bigger one. Our new fish tank is 37 gallons! Our old one was only 10 gallons so it is almost 4 times a large. We will have to get a few larger decorations to fill the tank now but it will be fun picking them out. It will be nice because now that our tank is larger our fish will have the space to grow and we will have bigger fish. I don’t think there is anything else left to say on this. Hurray for a new fish tank!
