Getting started with Blogging using WordPress.com

So you’ve decided that you wanted a platform to write. Why not use FaceBook, Google+, or even MySpace? In my opinion those platforms are good for argume…. Err.. I mean conversations, but they aren’t really the best place to publish a review of a piece of software, or articles to help configure routers, or most things that are more information than a blurb or rant. Blogging gives you the ability to categorize, tag, provide permanent links, and control formatting on your writing. It lets you share what you want, in the way that you want. For me I’m sharing links to my blog through other platforms so that anyone who finds an article will find it, but that’s about all. I will say that I do like the way that LinkedIn has approached writing articles, but not all of mine will be worth sharing there so I’ll opt to write it all here, and share to LinkedIn as appropriate.

Trying out WordPress

My wife had an interesting opportunity come up for work, and the description mentioned that she might maintain a website. I looked, and they used WordPress. Back at Time Inc. I used WordPress for a minute, but it’s been a long time. Since my blog was doing literally nothing over on Blogger I figured why not move everything here, and start new? This is a recurring theme for me in tech. I want to try something out so I jump all in on using it. Sometimes it works out, and other times I jump again because it stinks. WordPress is pretty neat. I debated setting up my own server so that I could host the software, but SaaS is where it’s at these days. I don’t need headaches maintaining servers any more. Been there, and done that too many times. So hey maybe you’ll see me post here. I’ve been thinking of trying to do more of the blogging thing than the FaceBook thing. Too many battles going on FaceBook. It’s just not a fun place any more. If anyone knows of a good free template that you can use with the hosted version of WordPress let me know. I liked this template mostly, but there are things I’m not happy with.

EnterpriseAdmin.org

I decided to take a topic that I’m a pretty good expert at and build a website around it. The site is http://www.EnterpriseAdmin.org and it’s goal is to help people who are in similar jobs as mine. Every day my group works on making OS images, configuring AntiVirus and creating training for software. I tried to think of all the major topics I deal with and organize them in a way that makes sense. In my world I have 60% Windows and 40% Mac OS. I know I’m not the norm so I broke up topics by OS. I hope someone looks at the site and gives me feedback on things I got right and anything they think I got wrong. Something I want to add is a code snippet database so folks can post example WinBatch or shell script code to help others. That part is a work in progress in my head. If you were to use the site what is it missing to make it helpful?

Social Media updates and me

It’s been so long since I posted last. Life got kinda crazy this past year. Before 2005 everyone knew me as a pretty social person, and I would try out every social network there was from Friendster to Orkut to MySpace, well, you get the idea. I used to even run a BBS in recent history. I’m going to start cleaning up my accounts that live all over the place and get back in to knowing more about how everything works. Playing with Social Media, gadgets, reading news sites… those things made me good at my job, and I honestly have been slacking. So here and there I’ll update my blog as I clean up my accounts and if I stumble across new and cool things I will most definitely post about them.

For my first update I’m cleaning up my About.me/jlevitsk and my LinkedIn pages. AboutMe is sort of like a business card online. You put a little bit of information about you, and links to all of the Social Media sites you are on. LinkedIn is like FaceBook but for business contacts. It’s a good way to keep in contact with co-workers who have left, and not have them see your embarrassing FaceBook posts. 🙂

So welcome back to me and maybe I’ll post something interesting. For now it’s just me updating things.

No Google+ for you!

I use GoogleApps for my Joshie.com domain. I do this because Google generally is awesome. I love Gmail so why not leverage Google for all my personal stuff? There’s a good reason why you might not want to, and it’s that frequently us Apps users are left behind on features. For instance there is no Google Profiles for Apps users right now. That means no +1 for me and no Google+ for me. It used to be more of a pain because there was a whole lot more I couldn’t do like Google Voice, but they have since resolved most of those problems. So now I’m just feeling really down that I am not able to use services that people with a free Gmail account can use. So if you are thinking about using Apps for a personal domain please keep in mind that you may not be able to do the newest things. In fact it may take as long as a year before you can use them.

No more Facebook for me

I’m done. Disabled my account, but would have deleted it if I could. Of course they don’t yet let you. I’ve read that at some point they will let people, but the option wasn’t on my account. So if you are wondering why I haven’t responded there… it’s because I’m over here. Feel free to share your pictures and stories the way we all did before Facebook, MySpace, Orkut came along. Even back in the BBS days there was something that felt a bit better there than these sites. I’m just tired of them.