Removing Categories from Your RSS feed

Platform: Wordpress. I run my blog on Wordpress MU which is similar to Wordpress self hosted (.org) and Wordpress hosted (.com)

Lisa Sabin-Wilson’s website had just what I was looking for.

1. Sign into Wordpress
2. Go to “Manage”
3. Go to “Categories”
4. Find the category you want to exclude and mouse over the the number on the right under “posts” as this will show you the category ID in the lower left hand corner of your browser
5. Take that category ID (in my case, it was 315) and use it in this syntax where you :
   

   http://domain.com/feed?cat=-315

   Have 2 categories to remove?
   Add the second category with an ampersand (&) in front:
   http://domain.com/feed?cat=-315&-320

6. Put this somewhere safe like your text editor
7. Sign into Feedburner
8. Click “Edit Feed Details”
9. You will now change your “Original Feed” to reflect the code above
10. Test it.  View your feed in your browser and all posts in that category will be gone.

Question: Will this cause subscribers to lose my RSS feed?

Answer: No. This won’t change anything for your subscribers. The “Feed Address” is what subscribers use.

Should I make a video tutorial for this?  Let me know.

So there’s always that uncomfortable discussion people have around the holidays about how to wish other people a good holiday season.

Some people think you should wish everyone based on the religion you are; some feel a generic greeting that is all inclusive is the way to go…some get downright insane and turn the whole season into a guilt ridden, consumer driven shopping spree full of commercial jingles and measures of self worth based on the gift.

I’m profoundly grateful and happy to be celebrating another year passing.  Surrounded by positive people who are friends, collaborators, mentors and overall good folks has made this year simply amazing.  They inspire me to be more than I am and to contribute to something greater than myself as I observe them doing.  Thank you all you wonderful people!

Photo Credit striatic

Now how can I share this inner joy? By sharing this! A friend sent me both of Adam Sandler’s Chanukah songs so I present them here for your enjoyment.

The Chanukah Song by Adam Sandler

The Chanukah Song II by Adam Sandler

Lyrics hand typed with love.  If you see (??) that means I need your help figuring out the word.  Feel free to drop a note on any corrections!

The Chanukah Song

(applause)
(ok)

This uh, This is a song that a, there’s a lot of Christmas songs out there and uh, not too many Chanukah songs so, uh, I wrote this song for all those nice Jewish kids who don’t get to hear any Chanukah songs.

Here we go

Put on your yamikah, here comes Chanukah,
so much funnikah, to celebrate Chanukah

Chanukah is, the festival of lights
Instead day of one day of presents, we have eight crazy nights

When you feel like the only kid in town, without a Christmas tree,
Here’s a list of people who are Jewish, just like you and me,

David Lee Roth, lights the Menorah,
So do Jamie Khon, Kirk Douglas and the late Dinah Shore(a),

Guess who eats together at the Carnegie deli?
Bowser from Sha Na Na and Arthur Fonzerelli

**To Be continued**

The Chanukah Song II

(applause)

Time to take out the Menorahs

Put on your Yamikah, it’s time for Chanukah,
So much funnikah, to celebrate Chanukah

Chanukah is, the festival of lights,
Instead day of one day of presents, we get eight crazy nights,

When you feel like the only kid in town, without a Christmas tree,
Here’s a new list of people who are Jewish, just like you and me,

Winona Ryder, drink Manishevitz wine,
Then spins a Dradle with Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein,

Guess who gives and receives loads of Chanukah toys?
The girls from (??) and all three Beastie Boys,

Lennie Kravitz is half Jewish, Courtney Love is half too,
Put them together, what a funky badass Jew!

We got Harvey Keitel, and Flashdancer Jennifer Beals,
Yasmin Bleeth from Baywatch is Jewish and yes her boobs are real,

Put on that Yamikah, it’s time for Chanukah,
Two Time Oscar winner Dustin Hoffmonikah, celebrates Chanukah,

OJ Simpson…, still not a Jew,
But guess who is?  The guy who does the voice for Scooby Doo,

Bob Dylan was born a Jew, then he wasn’t but now he’s back,
Mary Tyler Moore’s husband is Jewish, ’cause we’re pretty good in the sack,

Guess who got Bar Mitzvah’d on the PGA tour?  No I’m not talking about Tiger Woods,
I’m talking about Mr. Happy Gilmore,

So many Jews are in the show biz, Bruce Springsteen isn’t Jewish,
But my mother thinks he is,

Tell that old harmomonica, it’s time to celebrate Chanukah,
It’s not pronounced Chan-a-kah, the “C” is silent in Chanukah,

So read your Hooked On Phonika, get drunk in Tijuanikah,
If you really wannikah, have a happy, happy, happy, happy Chanukah!

Happy Chanukah!

(applause)
Here’s some love to everybody

Photo credit: Pulling Cart, originally uploaded by moriza.

Project Homeless Connect

This was started in San Francisco in 2004 and has since spread across the United States.  St. Paul has on as do many counties in Minnesota.  The goal is to round up three groups of people all in one place:

• Volunteers
• People who need help
• Service Providers

What makes these events so different is that each person (a guest) gets a guide (a volunteer) who helps them through the event; finding services, chatting about things, standing in line and building a connection.  All the guides are volunteers and we are instructed to listen to our hearts and help the guests as best we can.  There was a huge turnout from the Target corporation over 500+ volunteers (or so I heard) so congratulations to them!

I talked with Matt back in October from Project Homeless Connect Minneapolis about Shawn’s situation.  Not only did he provide some solid leads to housing resources through the VA, he presented the program in a way that was appealing to me and even said that I could be Shawn’s guide for the day!

Doing a search for “homeless” on Flickr, I was amazing to find 1,763 results.  Many photos were in the US but I also saw photos from India and Japan.

I had been in contact with Shawn the month before and got a note from him by email that he was at a friend’s house for Thanksgiving and was enjoying a warm bed and a full belly which made me smile.  I didn’t think I’d have a problem getting in touch with him for the event.  I went to the training the next Thursday in preparation for the following Monday 12/8/2008 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.  I emailed Shawn and didn’t hear back.  I sort of second guessed myself about going but thought, “Hey, there will be a few thousand people who will need your help; go.” and I did.

The Event

First let me say that I have never walked into a place and felt so much good energy coming from so many people.  It must be similar to what people experience at prayer gatherings.  I was amazed and was immediately happy I’d decided to go.  I checked in and had volunteered to work in the “Internet Cafe” since I hadn’t heard back from Shawn.  After checking my coat, I headed over.

Helping Others

Walking down the halls and seeing guests and guides paired off by the hundreds blew my mind.  I have never seen so many people getting help at one time and so many people openly giving.  I instantly felt I was where I belonged.  I checked in with the other volunteers at the Internet Cafe.  Some were with their guests, some were manning the computers.  There were phones and long distance calling cards available so there were volunteers helping with that too.  I told all the volunteers on computers I would be happy to relieve them.  I chatted with available volunteers if this was their first event (my first one) and what they thought so far.  I was interested to hear how working with guests had gone for people and what quirky things had happened.

One thing I wasn’t prepared for were the children.  At the training, they had said there would be families and women with children.  The stereotype for a homeless person is a White male in his 50’s who is probably a war veteran.  Of course, we all know how inaccurate stereotypes are, right?  One thing everyone did look is tired.  I smiled to everyone not because I had to but because I was so happy to be a part of this event and to actually be helping!  I got smiles back my way!

On The Information Super Highway

What did I actually do at the event?

• Retyped someone’s entire resume from paper into electronic format
• Worked with a guest to recreate his entire resume memory and Google
• Planned walking and bus routes to shelters and the MN Job center for guest
• Looked up a Union in St. Paul for a guest
• Printed resumes from a flash drive for a guest
• Created 2 gmail accounts for 2 guests
• Helped a guest submit her unemployment benefits form
• Dialed an older guest call his sister and sister-in-law in Florida
• Supported a guest as she waited to make her call about safe housing
• and all sorts of stuff in between

I heard HCMC was responsible for the hardware and setup of the Internet Cafe and I give them a big thank you!  The one problem we experienced was with the printer.  It looks like it was mapped back to a different subnet so printing took a very, very long time (3 minutes for 1 page of text, 25 minutes for a full page photo).

Next time, I am going to suggest there are more structured activities on the computer so people can take advantage of doing things they don’t normally do (and I already did suggest this through the SurveyMonkey form we all filled out after the event).

The Warm Fuzzies

So as I helped folks, some said nice things to me!  One guy said, “How’d you do that?” when I was able to find the name of the nursing home he worked at in Illinois from just a street.  I took time to step back through the process of my boolean search, how I used the results to narrow the search and finally Google maps to identify the possible solutions.

Another man said, “You know, I know a lot about the internet but you showed me some new things today on Google”.  He was talking about Google street view and Google’s NEW ability to plan routes via public transportation.

After The Event

How to help now?  This event is held twice a year in Minneapolis.  I’m not sure how often St. Paul does it.  I am going to contact Goodwill Easter Seals about volunteering now because I am certain I enjoy teaching technology and I want to continue to give.  I have the time as well since I work for myself.

The other way to continue this is to donate to Project Homeless Connect Minneapolis.  Since it’s 100% volunteer based, no salaries are paid out.  Even the accountant volunteers.  This means that 100% of donations get put to work where it counts; not lost to administrative “costs” ie ineffective, inefficient, unreceptive, unresponsive staff.

Another is to get your company involved.  Here is a list of contributors who either gave time or money to this event.  Places like the Basilica of St. Mary, College of St. Catherine, Golden Plump Poultry, Faegre and Benson LLP, Starbucks, Target, Thrivent Financial, SYSCO Minnesota and Wesley United Methodist Church.  Wowza!

What If We Don’t Help?

Sooner or later, everyone needs help from someone else.  The time to teach compassion is when the opportunity presents itself.  Children who grow up understanding what it feels like to give rather than take will benefit from this big picture view.  Force, shame and guilt don’t work.  Encouragement, patience and forgiveness are the tools that can take you beyond the world of materialism.

My First YouTube Video

So I’ve been talking about doing videos and getting a webcam for two months.  Everything had to be “perfect” before I started.  Well today I just did it.  My car did not like the subzero cold and died on me.  My mechanic will be looking at it tomorrow but it really got me to thinking about what it would be like to try and survive without a home.  I walked a few blocks to find a cab and two of my fingers are still a bit numb.  One of the guests I helped had frostbite on his ear and my heart went out to him because I cannot even imagine not being able to get inside at night to stay warm.

I dedicate this first video of mine to the people out there just getting by and know that my prayers are with you.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who’ve Lived the Longest

NPR is interviewing Dan Buettner this morning.

Dan Buettner’s Tips To Enjoy a Long and Healthy Life

Move naturally
exercise

Downshift
yoga, prayer

Know your sense of purpose

Forget diets
veggie, moderation

How you connect
family, religion, who you hang out with

How I Plan To Reach 120 Years

Reduce Stress
I’ve made changes in who/how/why I work and live to put myself first.  I catchup with previous co-workers and can’t believe the BS we put up with crazy bosses, overtime, angry customers and kicking dead horses.  It’s also a drag to come home from work and step into another stress inducing situation.  Evaluate each relationship in your life and ask yourself: Is this relationship adding or subtracting from my life?

Have a Life Purpose
Dan talks about people waking up for more than just work.  Ever been around someone and felt as if they were radiating energy?  That person has a life purpose.  Everyday I focus on truly and deeply connecting with people.  I seek volunteer opportunities, pray and write down my goals so I know where I’m going.

Eat Less and Higher Quality Food
There is a study which tested if reducing calories was an effective method of increasing longevity.   This dietary schedule, known as calorie restriction, increased the lifespan of rodents by as much 50%.  I keep this in mind so I chew my food more and focus on taste, texture and quality.  Most food I eat now, I cook myself.  Most of my groceries are organic.  Now, I still scarf down pizza and BBQ ribs with soda pop but I no longer live on take out and frozen foods.

Common Things Seen Among Centurions

• Having a Sense of Purpose
• Eating Vegetables Daily, Meat Less Often
• Having Daughters

Challenges to Longevity

• Toxins
• Accidents

A client of mine told me about this Dilbert strip he saw. It provides perspective how a computer user receiving help could be feel about their data privacy. What they don't consider is all the crap I have to look at on computers owned by men between the ages of 30-60! [inline] [/inline]

Remote Support Options

Helping people with remote support became faster and easier (note: not the same as fast and easy).  I'm still glad I got started with supporting computers through the phone because I developed my ability to visualize and communicate using only words.  This is huge because computer support is really about trust.  It' a leap of faith for computer users to click on things just because someone on the other line says you should.

Internally, most companies I worked for used IP addressees on the local network to get users and support staff connected.  VPN's extended this support to people in the field.  After I struck out on my own, I needed a tool that could easily connect me to people located anywhere in the world.  It would leap over firewalls in a single bound.  It would transparently connect me where no one had connected before.  Front offices and back rooms filled with servers...I would be there in moments.

That tool has been Logmein.  They have several products I use, including Hamachi for a software VPN but my mainstay has been Logmein Rescue which allows for a smart, fast and flexible remote support solution and I've been using their solution since 2006. I love using Logmein. It's fast, effective, easy to use, easy for the people I help, supports Mac OSX, supports mobile devices, is affordable and has a ton of powerful features including reboot into Safe Mode.

Data Protection

This story plays out all across the nation everyday
Computer person: I found your problem. Your wireless network is wide open so anyone can access your files so this is causing your computer to get infected.
Computer user: I just want the viruses to stop
Computer person: I should secure the network, uninstall Limewire and scan your computer offline
Computer user: Why do you need to do all that? I told you what the problem is
Computer person: Yes, and I'm telling you what will need to be done
Computer user: Well, I don't think that needs to be done. Just clean off the viruses
Computer user (1 month later): That computer person wasn't very good. My computer still has a bunch of viruses

Visa has a great page which describes the type of computer network security measures they expect you to follow if you process credit cards through them. All 12 points are standard meat and potatoes security recommendations for computer networks and I show this list to my clients as a starting or check in point. This list is based on the PCI Data Security Standards (PCIDSS)

The PCI DSS, a set of comprehensive requirements for enhancing payment account data security, was developed by the founding payment brands of the PCI Security Standards Council, including American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide and Visa Inc. Inc. International, to help facilitate the broad adoption of consistent data security measures on a global basis.

Illegal Downloads

Fishing for Pron's in the Sea or "Naughty Surfing"

"Oh, my! My son must have got onto the computer and been surfing these sites".

I just tell them I'm there to fix the computer, not evaluate how they use it.  These days, if you want to use your computer to surf the internet for porn private stuff, it's a much better idea to download a Live CD of Ubuntu, reboot your computer and go to town.  This saves you the hassle and stress of deleting your temporary files, cookies, history, etc.  Of course, the Geeksquad will miss your pron files but we're talking about keeping things professional, not sloppy.

Outliers can be enjoyed for its bits of trivia, like why most pro hockey players were born in January, how many hours of practice it takes to master a skill, why the descendents of Jewish immigrant garment workers became the most powerful lawyers in New York, how a pilots' culture impacts their crash record, how a centuries-old culture of rice farming helps Asian kids master math.

I personally love it when people compile research to establish statistical "proof" that life is more than a series of unrelated events. My friend mentioned Outliers because he says I remind him of the book's subjects. It is true that I wonder what my life would be like without computers. If I didn't have such a passion to learn, know, test and try things out.

How I Got My Start In Computer Technology

I often think back to my early beginnings on the computer. There was no one in my life telling me "girls don't work on computers" so I was able to move forward with my curiosity. My mother got me signed up as a Windows 98 beta tester. Now I have no idea how she heard about the program or why she even thought I would be interested. This was 1997. I has just graduated high school and was taking psychology classes at MCTC. I had taken the very painful "Computers 101" which, as I remember was confusing, strange, hard to understand and abstract. Anyway, she had me fill out some form and then I got some letter in the mail from Microsoft saying I had been accepted. The first thing Microsoft needed me to do was ensure my computer met the "minimum system requirements"...and so began my love affair with technology.

I had a really, really, really old computer. An employer's wife had the computer from her old job site and they had given it to me. It was an NCR SCSI based model from 1992. So first things first, I read the Microsoft letter and saw:

Hard Drive - this size is the minimum CD-Rom speed - this is the minimum

Alright, I better make sure I have those. Mmm, how do I tell if this computer has those? I started my search at the local library and came up empty handed. I bought my very first computer book (Upgrading and Repairing PC's, 8th Edition) and started calling NCR for computer support. I would call them and tell them my final goal (computer needed this size drive and this speed CD-rom), where I was at right now and they would tell me my next step. They had me editing lines of the autoexec.bat. I would carefully write down their instructions, get off the phone, make the changes, test the changes and then call them back to report the new status. Sometime during this process I realized, "Hey! This is really fun and logical!". They directed me to get a new hard drive.

So being a broke college student, I headed over to the used computer store that used to be on Bryant and Lake Street near the Bryant Lake Bowl. I picked up a SCSI hard drive that couldn't of been more than 8GB. As I was paying for it, the manager asked, "Hey, do you like computers? Do you want a job?". I jumped at the chance because this looked like a great opportunity to learn about computers and get hands on experience.

I was able to get my "new" hard drive installed and successfully set the SCSI ID to a non conflicting number. I kept having trouble with the CD-Rom drive so this is where working at a computer store came in handy. I was able to get help from the on-site tech and put my paychecks towards a new computer. I participated in the beta, submitted bug reports and received a shiny final version of Windows 98.

That's how my tech career got started.

Interestingly enough, it turned out to be a good thing that I had just one computer book. I would read chapters, think about what I'd read, go back and re-read it, cross reference item in the index and even had some "computer solution" dreams. Techies and programmers know what I mean...you work out the problems in a semi wakeful state.

So, going on Malcolm Gladwell's theory that successful people end up that way through a set of events:

Challenging our cherished belief of the "self-made man," he makes the democratic assertion that superstars don't arise out of nowhere, propelled by genius and talent: "they are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn and work hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot."

I am curious as to:

• Why my mom thought I would be interested in computers and Microsoft
• Why I didn't give up when I encountered obstacles
• Why the manager offered me a job
• Why I completed the Microsoft beta testing
• Why I even thought I would be able to complete this series of tasks

Maybe it was the lack of fear. Not concerning myself with doubt and reasons why I would fail. I've always been a problem solver. The cool thing was this experience paved my future. When I sat down at the Geek Squad in late 1998 to apply for a job and I saw the following question on the test (Yes, Geek Squad used to make everyone take a test)

What does fdisk /mbr accomplish?

I was immediately able to recall that this formatted the master boot record to clear out viruses and reset the partition information. So looking back 10 years, I can clearly see that this experience helped me establish an unshakable confidence in my ability to understand problems, collect the right tools, test and resolve the problem to completion. I would repeat this method throughout my IT career with great success.

So this post turned out to be much longer than I intended but I hope it provides insight as to why I have the skill sets I do and why I am excited about this book. I've added it to my wishlist so if you have found my blog helpful and want to say thanks with a gift, go right ahead and send me a copy of this book.

Strange food classifications

I love using GoogleTalk. I first tried sometime in 2006. 2/15/2006 to my friend Jen to be exact. I had been a die hard Gaim user but this new Google Talk thing was very interesting to me since I L-O-V-E-D Google.

Easy

I can pull it up right in my browser, load it up in my favorite chat client or run the java based client in my Firefox sidebar. I don't have to worry about adding people because anyone in my address book is already listed.

Fast

I can get signed in quickly. I can chat with people I need to talk to and not wait for phone calls. It's nice to pull up my chat client and be communicating in under 10 seconds. I can run it right inside my browser which saves me time on a new computer.

Supported

You can use Google Chat on Windows, Mac and Linux. You also can say hello on Windows mobile, your Blackberry, the iphone java supported cell phones. You can even load up your existing AOL chat buddies right into Google Talk.

Search Friendly

Want to pull up a link you sent to someone by chat last year? No problem. Just go into your Gmail and search through your chats.

Photo Credit Leonard Low