I hope to do at least one more formal setting and then a couple of more creative style photo shoots, but that all depends how my hot maturity model feels. Two see these photos please visit my photography site: www.orlund.com.

If I upgrade to the best iPad do I get a Max iPad? Since I could care less about nice little white computers that make you feel warm an fuzzy. I haven’t been following the whole Mac thing. To me it is just a fad that will one day fade out but apparently there is a large chuck of our population that thinks cosmetics help them perform better.

So I had to do a little research on this thing they call an iPad. One of the results on a Google search nearly made me fall over laughing in pain, it was a court case over the name (Apple Tries to Wrangle iPad Trademark). Are you serious? Your going to pay lawyers to fight over a crappy name like that? So now you’ve just added a few more dollars to your pretty little white toy?

Give it up Apple. No one really cares if you have a lower case “i” in front of your name. On top of that “iPad” makes me think of something that belongs in the woman section of a department store.

I like old photos even though they aren’t always clear or high quality compared to now days. I just like the style and feel of them. I also like black and white. I now have an excuse to learn how to develop my own film and prints. But that will be a while yet, lots to learn. Until then I will be learning digital black and whites fromMichael Freeman’s book “The Complete Guide To Black And White Digital Photography” my parents gave me for my birthday.

If you haven’t noticed the two photos above are nicely lit and have smooth gray background. “Ooooohhhhh” you say “How did you do that dad from Dad’s Workbench?”. Quit simple. Let me tell you. I used my brand new Optex Portable Photo Studio & Lighting Kit. That right I now have my own little lighting studio or softbox. My wife bought it for me. One of those things I talked about but forgot to put on my list.

I think my wife has a hidden agenda with her gift. The first thing I was required to photograph was a couple of her home made cards. I think she is going to start a multi-billion dollar home/ebay business then take over the world. But that is another story for another post.

1. Akismet
2. CommentLuv
3. FeedBurner FeedSmith
4. cforms
5. Google Analytics for WordPress
6. Google XML Sitemaps
7. Simple Tags
8. Sociable
9. Subscribe To Comments
10. Users to CSV

Although I use other plugins, these ones are the ones I find the most useful and provided me with the most value. So if you are starting out in the blogging world and plan to use WordPress then I suggest you check them out.

Short description of these plugins:

Akismet

This works great for keeping the spam comments out. Comes with WordPress and there is not really anything to configure.(Download from akismet.com)

CommentLuv

This adds a link to the lastest post of the person leaving a comment. A nice way to reward those who leave comments on your site. Read my earlier post CommentLuv for more details (found at http://www.commentluv.com/)

FeedBurner FeedSmith

Redirects your WordPress feeds to FeedBurner. Once you install and set it up you forget it’s there because there is nothing you need to do. (You can download at feedburner)

cforms

This is a great plugin for creating contact forms. There are lots and lots of options and customizations. I have touched only just enough to customize the form for my blog. (download from WordPress)

Google Analytics for WordPress

You will need the plugin if you want to use Google Analytics. I love Google Analytics as it is free, nice graphs, and more data than I would ever need. Very simple setup. (download from WordPress)

Google XML Sitemaps

This builds XML Sitemaps so that google can find pages on your site. Although there are several options it is ready to go once you install it. (download from WordPress)

Simple Tags

This is handy for managing tags and useful in selecting tags for your post. (download from WordPress)

Sociable

This will add the tiny Social Networking Icons to the bottom of your posts. I had problems with SocioFluid and Firefox so I found this plugin with much better options and works better. (download from WordPress)

Subscribe To Comments

Allows your users to subscribe to comments. I have subscribe to some just to see follow up comments and think this is a nice little feature to offer your readers. (download from WordPress)

Users to CSV

This plugin’s suggested use is for create mailing list of members and commenters. I don’t really like adding people to mailing lists unless I specifically notify people that they will be added to one so I don’t use it for that purpose. I use it to check out the sites of those who leave comments and sometimes to link back or mention their sites in posts. (download from WordPress)

Conclusion:

There are hundreds of plugins, some good and some not as good. Every blogger likes their own set of tools and what one person may like to use may not be what the next person likes. By reading articles from other pro bloggers I have sorted through a few pluggins and have found these 10 my favorite.

Still my search for plugins, graphics and other blogging tools continues. If you have a favourite plugin that I have not mentioned please post a comment I would love to see what you have found.

Bath Time

My daughter loves playing in the water. The bath tub is one of her favourite places. Takeing her out is a hard thing and she doesn’t like it much. Micheal Phelps has a female competitor on his heals.

You can build our own by going here: http://www.pyzam.com/toys/view/familysticker

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

]]> http://dadsworkbench.com/2008/09/23/our-family-sticker/feed/ 2 http://dadsworkbench.com/2008/09/18/twittergrader-failed-first-grade/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=twittergrader-failed-first-grade http://dadsworkbench.com/2008/09/18/twittergrader-failed-first-grade/#comments Fri, 19 Sep 2008 05:59:15 +0000 Orlund http://dadsworkbench.com/?p=362 As a dad I think Math is important to teach our children. I think someone forgot to teach Mr. TwitterGrader that you cannot have 29,279 people out of 29,126 because 153 of those people don’t exist. Take a look below at Mr. TwitterGrader math.