Okay, it's not over until the Fat Lady Sings!

And, sorry if this offends fat lady's but, I think my "people" understand exactly what I'm really talking about. I will choose to blame the Long Cold and Snow filled winter for my Last posting of despair. It's very clear and has been since I left the Golden State that gray is Not my color and I have known for years I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder -- or whatever it is they like to call SAD in my part of the woods.

As is usually the case for my life living under these blooming clouds--I typically have at least one major melt-down before the daffodils pop up and say Yellow in the spring. Given, the circumstances I am planning to allow for the additional possibility that I will actually have two or more this time around!

One Down!

And, I am back up for another round of trudging through the long dark days of Not Living in the Drought affected area of where I live...even, though I long for the lazy life of San Diego more then anything right now! Please let me out of this Twilight Zone!

I digress... Just know that it's nothing but the lack of sunshine that takes away my lack of motivation, hope, and creativity! It's hear like the daffodil bulbs--waiting for the warm glow of the spring, Sun Breaks to be just enough to make me bloom one more time...

Until then, I hope the sun is warm for you now, leave me to mope and feel sorry about the Real things I am sorry about so I can take another swing at what everyone knows is my passion that will bloom again soon!

See ya, and please remember I do so love lemon in my ice tea!

Distracted

So, does anyone else ever wonder if hard work pays off? Do you ever sit and wonder if the mission or idea you have is just a waste of time? Have you ever just frozen up and considered how websites and blogs are really all about making something out of nothing?

It is no secret that I was on a mission when I decided to create a place for Adoptive parents, foster parents and the parents of special needs children. It was no secret that I wanted to contribute and create not only a place for myself but, for others... to pay it forward and to perhaps just one time make a difference that might help a Child.

It's no secret that when I did--there were other's who wanted to jump in and do what they could do. And, that I went out on a limb and shared my mission with someone else 50-50. No secret that I learned it's best to not do business with a friend or family member. I guess, I just believed I was immune to the truth of the adage.

How many times in my life will I consider the ODDS and think I am somehow above the advice of those who tried the same and felt the burn?

The past few weeks I have been wondering if my mission even means anything to anyone besides myself? Is it worth the bother to invest my time and creativity into something that may only now be a black hole...

Could I see my mission be More if I just let go of the vision I shared with someone else and felt so on fire about, only to lose the person because of differences in opinions?

Was it a sign when my entire website was destroyed because I lost a friend and then all the files in the HTML of my website--with no real ability to recover? Is there something I could do that might show my time even matters?

I have been distracted for the past few weeks. I have been in thought about the way I spend my own time and where it might matter the most. I could go back all gung-hoe and really get things up and running Again--Alone. Or, I could move on and find a new idea to keep my mission?

Guess, I will be distracted a few more days? I wonder if anyone will bother to send me an email and let me know my time is worth their trouble?

Virtual Reality -- 25 years of going Paperless

Going paperless has been My Dream and vision since I started my career, way back in 1983 as an insurance customer service rep... My boss spent $3,000 (BACK THEN) to buy one of the very first Apple Computers and the "visions" about the paperless office started to take form way back then!

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One thing I did learn from my first real boss, John P Woods, is to Trust nothing you don't see in writing! Our office may have been cutting edge and we may have been thrilled we could send Mail Merged letters to our clients printed on our Dot Matrix printer but John, knew we would never escape our need to Hold the Records in our hands.

During my whole career as an Insurance Agent I have watched the records go "paperless" supposedly. What I saw in most cases however, was a lot of double work with one foot in both realms. Add all the security issues related to the Lack of Paper, and computer hackers and there is the big obstacle for going 100% paper free.

Today, I am of the mind that some parts of business can and should be 100% paperless and where that's possible do it and don't worry about keeping a paper copy. For example it should matter much if your Advertising, Newsletters, and Website Content is kept virtual (just remember to back it all up), but the contracts made for the advertising and the access to create the website--is going to and should require a certain amount of Hard Copy.

I have tried to go paperless for well over 20 years now and would have to say that I am pretty close to 90% paper free! I would be silly to print out the pages I publish on the Internet, and I don't need to keep hard copy of advertising or newsletters--but, I sure do need some kind of secure--off line--record keeping system to Keep Up with all the legal and security related issues!

Paperless is still a wonderful goal for any business, but clearly 25 years after the first rumblings it would be the way of the future the goal might need to be made a little more realistic! Reduced Paper record keeping is my approach and will be until it is a easy and secure as opening the locked file cabinet in my office can be.

So Blond!

What a Week! And, yes I am blond. Thanks to my Geek-Hero Patrick, for saving the Day! Whew!

I have a way of Checking little boxes and not always knowing what checking a box might do! It's an even bigger problem when I check the box, not knowing what it will do, and then Forget I even checked the box in the first place!

For those kinds of problems it's good to know I can find an Expert to bail me out. I have learned that using Joomla! means all the little boxes mean and do more then I might ever expect. Thankfully, this time it only required unchecking the box I had checked and forgot I had checked!

It seems that sometimes I take 5-steps forward and 3-steps back. The good thing is with the New Website and Redesign on Adoptive Parents Network we are working out all the bugs and blips as they happen! Rather then our last go around where we just kept moving forward leaving the blips to build on each other.

It should start to show pretty soon that We have learned a lot during the past 4-years of website building! The new site is being developed slower then we had hoped, but this time it will function the way our visitors and members learned to expect from Me and the projects I am part of!

Things appear to be ready to start really building the content and connecting everything together. I haven't looked at the SEO issues all of this may have caused--It seemed a little pointless with the complete re-do!

Anyway, I am still so excited about the next few weeks and the Ideas we are getting for our members! It seems we can see the light at the end of the tunnel on the Programming and development side of YOUR computer screens! All we need to do now is put everything BACK where it belonged!

I am learning to use Joomla!

It's a well known fact that the website for the Adoptive Parents Network has had a few blips during 2008 but, I am happy and a bit distracted working on it! We contracted a professional to Set everything up and now it's just a matter of me learning how to use Joomla!

So far, I am excited about the progress the new remodeled Adoptive Parents Network website has made during the past several months. The experience I have gained in both putting together websites and blogs since 2005 and my experience parenting special kids has made me very confident with the Nature of the Network we plan to create.

This project has some exciting plans and will be unfolding one little thing at a time. Our new community forums using PhpBB3 are ready and the information and resource sections have been started. Joomla! is amazing but, requires a great deal of putting together. Our template seems to be working very well. Right now there is a huge amount of content to put on the site as well as a large number of things to set up!

The exciting part is that with the development of this site we feel confident that our members will enjoy the changes and redesigned website!