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Posted on December 31st, 2006 by Shane.
Events, Holidays, Life.
Wow! this year flew by so fast! It’s just hours away from the new year! We’re going to be in Chelsea, Quebec tonight at my Aunt and Uncle’s house. I think it’s going to be a great New Years eve tonight. We’re supposed to get some snow tonight, and the weather is good.
We’re going to the party around 5:00 tonight, and I will be bringing my camera, and taking lots of pictures. I will be sharing a few here, and more of them on Officiallyshane.org. I can’t wait!! It’s really exciting!
See you tomorrow, in 2007!
Posted on December 30th, 2006 by Shane.
Asides, Blogging.
I really hate spam. I’ve been getting so much of it lately. Since I installed Akismet, (not that long ago) the anti spam plugin, It has blocked 240 Spam comments. Even though it’s blocking most of it, some spam is still getting through. I’m seriously thinking of closing commenting, and only allowing registered users to comment (Anyone can register).
Posted on December 29th, 2006 by Shane.
Blogging.
I was talking about blogging the other day. Here is a tutorial on how to install one of the most popular publishing platforms, WordPress. I tried to do a video tutorial, but it did not quite work out. It’s at the bottom of this post. Instead I did a visual walkthrough on WordPress installation:
First go to www.wordpress.org, and click Download.
Next, Click the Download format of your Choice.
Login to your Cpanel, and click the MySQL database button.
Next, Create a MySQL database for your blog. After you’ve added that, create a database user. After that’s complete add the user to the database using the drop down menus circled in the shot above.
Now, click on File Manager. Click on public_html or www when you get in the file manager. Upload wordpress zip archive that you downloaded.
Now Click extract file contents in the file manager. Delete the zip archive. You will notice a new directory called WordPress.
The directory you extracted is called WordPress. If you want, re name this directory to something like ‘blog’ or ‘journal’, so your URL would be www.example.com/blog/. To make WordPress your whole website, simply extract the file on your desktop, and put all of the individual files in to a new zip folder and upload and extract the zip folder. Or you could FTP it up. That’s how I did it.
Now, click on the PHP file wp-config-sample.php. Edit the file.
Fill in your database details (where I have it circled).
Open the WordPress install URL www.example.com/blog/wp-admin/install.php, and we’re ready to start the installation.
Type in the name of your blog, and your email adress. This can always be changed later.
Now, we’ve installed WP! COPY YOUR PASSWORD! And then login with the user name admin. Your password can be changed later.
Login Page.
Now it’s time for you to explore! Change your password under the Users tab. More tutorials on how to add plugins and themes coming soon!
Posted on December 28th, 2006 by Shane.
Blogging.
A ‘blog’ is short for weblog. A weblog is a website, that is like a journal- sort of. Businesses can also use blogs. They can use blogs to easily publish their news, or advertise new products. Newspapers, and magazines also are using blogs.
Blogs are becoming more and more popular. Anyone can start a blog. Blogs can be very easy to create, if you are using the right tool. So many people are starting to turn to blogs to publish their news and advertise, because it is so easy. Also, so many people are just starting a personal blog, to share their thoughts, or showcase things like web templates, music, or other graphics or downloads.
Blogging is so easy. Anyone can start blogging right now. There are tonnes of free blogging services, and web hosts deticated just to blogs.
Also, if you want to purchase webhosting, like I am for both my blogs/sites, you can. But, when you buy webhosting, and a domain name, your server does not come with a blog already on it. You need to find the right blogging platform/publishing system that is right for you.
I can help a little bit with the stuff above. First, if you want to start blogging right away, with no domain, and want a free service, here are some:
Now, here are some payed blogging tools.
Here now are some web hosting services, that I think are great for hosting a personal site/blog, or two. These are payed hosting services, and if you want to buy them and set up a personal site, or a small buisiness site, these would be great for that too. If you are focusing on a blog, you will have to find the blogging platform that is right for you, which I will also help you with.
Small Business, and Personal site hosting services:
Okay, now that I have given you some affordable, and really good (in my opinion) web hosting services, it’s time to actually pick the Blogging/Publishing Platform that you are going to use to power and maintain your Weblog.
I’m going to help you choose some.
Publishing and Blogging Platforms: (all Free- except Movable Type with Multi Users and Extra Support)
Movable Type is a Publishing Platform for bloggers who want to have Multiple Blogs on one installation of Movable Type. Movabletype is also the #1 choice for buisnesses. Movable Type is quite easy to Learn. I Have a Movable Type blog- Officiallyshane.org, and I also have another blog on the same installation- my Travel Journal. You can add unlimited blogs with the click of a mouse. Installation is pretty easy- it may be harder for some, but there are so many tutorials out there on how to install it. I will be posting a tutorial about that too, sometime in the future. For now, here is some instructions on how to install it on your web host. It was easy for me, with a lot of times trying over and over again, I finally got it. It can run on four different databases: BerkeleyDB, MySQL, SQLit, and PostgreSQL. Most webhosts offer MySQL. Movable Type enterprise is also available for big company blogs. For full support, for a year, and 10 users on your blog it costs $279.95. If cut down the number of users, it gets less and less expensive. Click Here to see the price List. If you only want one user, and want MT for personal blogging, but no support, it is free, which is good, but you don’t get any support from Six Apart. Movable Type is a great blogging tool.
WordPress is another really good blogging tool. It’s what is powering this site right now. With a static frontpage plugin, or a special template wordpress can be used as a full Content Management system. Add new webpages with a single click. Visual Rich text editor. Resize images, and upload right in the posting panel. It’s super easy to post, write webpages, and add categories. Comment moderation, Private posts and more. There are so many plugins and themes for WordPress. WordPress is more than a blog tool. It’s a little bit easier to install than Movable Type. I really like WordPress, it’s great for beginners, or anyone!
I don’t have experience with Greymatter, but I hear it’s a good blogging tool. Easy to use. It’s uses a template based design. To customize templates, all you need to know is CSS, and HTML. Greymatter is another great tool, and I will be sure to try it out one day on one of my test websites.
B2 Evolution is another great blogging tool. I don’t have much experience with this, but It’s really good. Create multiple blogs on one installation.Okay!! I think that’s enough for now! (This is the longest post I’ve written on Shanebellinger.com!!) I hope you consider blogging! It’s really good to share your thoughts with the world… Instantly. Please consider it.
I will be back another day with some more info on blogging, and hosting. I will be writing some tutorials on how to use some of the blogging platforms, and install them on your hosting account. I hope to make it easier for you!
I will also help you a bit more on choosing a free blogging service, a payed blogging service, or if you should buy web site hosting and start a personal website or install a blogging platform, and start a blog that way. I will also put out some tutorials on how to customize, or even make your own templates/themes in WordPress and Movable Type.
That’s all for today! More coming soon! 
Posted on December 26th, 2006 by Shane.
Holidays, Life, Random.
Outside is all covered in White.. for the third time! I wonder if this snow will melt too, or if it will stay. I hope it stays for a while. It was not here for Christmas Day or Christmas Eve, so I hope it will stay for the next week of Holiday season. At least until New Year’s Eve- when we are having the party.
Here are some pictures of the new fallen snow:
It’s dark outside, and the snow is still falling. Maybe it will stay until the end of the holiday season… or until Spring.
Posted on December 25th, 2006 by Shane.
Holidays, Life.
Wow, that was a surprise! I was just told that we are having another Christmas party… today! We are going to my Grandparent’s house for a small party. I think it will be good, just like last night. I’m going to be taking a lot more pictures! Last night, I took 191 photos. I plan to post some of them to my other site Officiallyshane.org.
I will post how the party went when I get back, or tomorrow. We are going in about two hours. I am very happy about going to another party. We have another one on Sunday- new years eve. We will be going to my Aunt’s house up in the Chelsea. It’s in the Gatineau Hills. I will be taking more pictures, like I did back in July, 2006. I can’t wait for that party! It’s going to be a late night.
That’s about it. Photos on Officiallyshane.org!!
I will post how it went.
Posted on December 25th, 2006 by Shane.
Admin.
Posted on December 24th, 2006 by Shane.
Holidays.
Wow, it’s already Christmas Eve! I want to take the time to wish my readers, and everyone in the world celebrating this year, a Verry Merry Christmas! I know I will! We are having our big family Christmas party tonight at our house.
It’s going to be very busy today, like it was yesterday and the day before. We got the rest of our decorating done yesterday. Here is some pictures:
That’s not all. You can see more here, on my other site Officiallyshane.org.
We worked almost all day yesterday on decorating. Now our house is fully decorated inside, and outside. I think that this is going to be a good Christmas. I’d better get going, because there is so much to do!! The guests are coming at 5:00PM, and we still have so much to do!
Posted on December 22nd, 2006 by Shane.
Holidays, Life.
Today and tomorrow is the last days that we have to get our Christmas shopping done. The stores are soooo crowded that you can bearly move… and it’s a weekday during work hours! I can’t imagine tomorrow. We’re going to get all of the groceries done today. After that, we need to get more decorations and finish up before the 24th, because that’s when we are having our party.
We’re going out soon. When we get back I’m going to finish up decorating, and we are going to start making desserts for the party. We’re going to make Pumpkin Pie, Apple Pie anf Ice cream, along with some other stuff.
That’s about it! we have to get going soon, to get to the stores before they get too over crowded. 
Posted on December 21st, 2006 by Shane.
Holidays, Life.
I am so happy! Christmas Holidays are finally here. Tomorrow is a school day, but I’m taking tomorrow off. We are going out to buy more Christmas decorations, and finish decorating. I am happy about that.
I just got home from school. We did not do anything at school, because we had a bit of a party and gift exchange in the morining, and about an hour and a half later, we took a trip to the Movie Theatre, and watched ‘The Nativity Story‘. It was a really good movie, one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. I enjoyed it very much.
I’m also happy that the Holidays have begun for me. We are having a big family party for the first time in our new house this year. We’re going to get everything set up for Sunday, Christmas Eve.
That’s about it! I can’t wait for tomorrow! 
Posted on December 19th, 2006 by Shane.
Asides, Site.
I am so upset that spammers keep trying to put their garbage on my site. They are trying to spam posts, and mostly the Guestbook. Akismet has done a remarkable job in keeping the spam out. It caught almost 100 spam comments within the last three days. None of the spam has even gone into moderation, it was immidately blocked. I am so greatful for Akismet, WordPress anti Spam plugin.
Posted on December 18th, 2006 by Shane.
Life.
I can’t wait! Christmas time is one of my most favourite times a year! We are having the party at our house this year. It’s going to be our first Christmas in our new house. I am even more excited about that. All of my family is coming, except the some that lives far away. My Grandparents are going to be there, my aunts and uncles, and everyone else. We are not 100% finished decorating, but I hope to get that done this week. We are having our party on Christmas eve, just six days from today!!! I am a little dissapointed, because we don’t have any snow yet, (and we live in Canada!) but that will certainly not keep me from having a good time. Who knows, maybe we will end up having a little bit of snow by Christmas eve, or maybe it will snow on Christmas eve.
Anyway, I am excited, and I can’t wait. I think it will be a good Christmas this year! ;-)
Posted on December 17th, 2006 by Shane.
Asides, Site.
I just updated a whole lot of my old posts, as far back as June. I re categorized them, because some of the categories that they were filed in does not exist any more. I still have a long way to go, I hope I can get them all done by tonight, so I don’t have 50 something posts saying ‘Uncategorized’. Today, I also have some homework for school to finish up.
That’s all!
~Shane~
Posted on December 16th, 2006 by Shane.
Admin, Asides.
That was very scary! I thought that I had lost my site after deleting the MySQL database that this site runs on. Few, I’m glad that’s over. I have restored half of the comments, I’m almost done the templates page. The only things I lost during this time was about two or three small posts from November.
Posted on December 16th, 2006 by Shane.
Blogging.
