Category: Web development

New job, busy week

I took a new job within IBM, which I’m pretty excited about. I’m now the Jazz.net Lead, meaning I’m in charge of all development for the site, meaning I have to make sure that all the changes that need to get done get done. It’s a pretty big deal for me, so I’m pretty excited for the opportunity and shift in career. 

As sson as the job was finalized last Friday, they immediately asked me to go to Boston for meetings and a customer conference later in the week. So, I was there all last week. I got hit with the firehose for a couple of days, then spent a couple of days meeting and talking with mostly my new co-workers and people who are interested in what will happen on the site.
So, that meant that Aubrey was here all by herself with the four boys all week. She did great! I got home late Friday night, and Saturday morning we got the kids all ready and went to the Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University for a family photo shoot. Our photographer seemed pretty laid back, but she wasn’t too expensive and she will give us the original high-res digitals, so that is a plus. We’ll see how they turn out in a few days. The park was beautiful with all the vibrant fall colors, and the kids looked cute, so we’re hopeful.
Here’s the Duke Gardens:
[googlemaps http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=sarah+p.+duke+gardens&sll=36.002182,-78.932154&sspn=0.007994,0.016522&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=14&iwloc=A&cid=36002351,-78930118,2861158444001751675&ll=36.013699,-78.925953&output=embed&s=AARTsJqy3eX0W8FwP0eUdWydLltDJuWYDw&w=425&h=350]
Aubrey is at the gym right now doing gymnastics. I think if she could somehow combine graphic design with doing back handsprings, she would do it all day long. They both put smiles on her face!
Collin read Helaman 5:12 for the scripture tonight in FHE. I helped him draw a picture and he used it to tell the younger kids what the scripture was saying. It was really nice, and I’m excited for his baptism next month. Owen gave an impromptu lesson about being nice, which sort of fell apart as soon as Wesley started trying to give his input into the lesson. Ha. Sometimes being a parent just feels like an impossible task. 
Wesley is doing fine from his collision with the ceiling fan last night. Aubrey put a couple of butterfly bandages across the cut, and it looks like it has closed up just fine and is healing. 
Oh, and the kids are tracked out now too, which means they don’t have school for the next four weeks, since their track out spans over Thanksgiving. It’s always challenging to stay sane around the house and keep the kids busy and out of trouble. The house — we just have to let it go!
Aubrey also picked up two tickets for us to see Twilight on opening night. She’s excited for the movie; I’m excited for the date night!

Changes to packhams.com?

I’ve been mulling over making some changes to Packhams.com, but I wanted to get some feedback from the consumers first. It’s really about adjusting for our changing patterns, but also simplification. Here are some ideas:

  • Remove the discussion board (forum). I could preserve it, but shut it down for new posts and only have a small link to it.
  • Remove the calendar
  • Remove the email section (you could still use your email address)
  • Remove the address book section (contact)
  • Make a more simple front page that is focused on our blogs (posts, feeds, etc.) and our photo gallery
  • Keep a link to the genealogy

What do you guys think? Would you really miss any of those things?

p.s. Jason (and Amanda) and Mom both got the quiz from my last blog right. Congratulations!

Themes for your blog

I can make more themes available to bloggers on the Packhams.com blogosphere. But since there are hundreds of themes out there, you need to tell me which ones you think are cool.

Find a theme that you like here and then point me to it:

http://themes.wordpress.net/

Yours can look so cool and better!

Just pick one that is “widget ready” for best performance!

Trackbacks, how to use them

I really like what was written on today’s PeakCityWeb.com blog, by the great Seth Packham.

So, I want to try this whole “trackback” technology. By linking to my other blog, it should show up on that post as a comment, linking back to this blog post.

When you write a post, enter the blog post URL in the trackback section, or just link to it in your post, and it will “ping” the other blog with your link as a comment. Very cool.

Image uploads working

Hey guys,

I’m glad to see that some of you are starting to blog. This will be a fun experiment — giving us each our own space (Virginia Woolf would be proud).

I just fixed the “image uploads” function, so when you are posting you can upload a file or an image and easily include it in your post, either full size or thumbnail, like this:
My family

Of course, you can still pull in images directly from the Web, too. You just point to the image location rather than uploading the image to your blog, like this:

New blog up and running!

It’s exciting to see everyone getting their blogs started. All we need still is a family rep from jamanda and mom and dad/ieda.

After you add your blog, you need to let me know, so I can add the feed to the front page of Packhams.com. Once your blog is on the front page of Packhams, it will be easy for everyone to see when you’ve updated it!

I might do some tweaking with the look and feel still.