I love this picture that my mom was able to snap while I was driving, Budweiser and the Gateway Arch:

And my official welcome to Kansas:

My first class is this evening.  This class is on public budgeting.  I had orientation Monday and Tuesday, and I’ll be visiting the health center tomorrow morning for a cough I managed to get sometime during my hectic last three weeks.

This summer should be fun, and jam-packed.  Everything is a little unnerving, because I’m living alone for my first time ever (granted, I’m in an apartment building).  There have already been several severe Kansas storms, but every building out here has signs for where to go in case of a tornado, so I’m trying not to worry too much.

I am going to be a University of Kansas Jayhawk!

photo credit: Hometown Invasion Tour

Friday afternoon I was informed that I had been admitted to the Master’s of Public Administration program at the University of Kansas.

And I couldn’t have been more excited.

Four years ago, I wanted to go to law school. I made the decision to attend the University of Georgia for undergrad, knowing that I could have gone to “big name” schools. I decided to save money and attend an in-state school where I would receive free tuition (HOPE Scholarship). I would save money to go to the best graduate school (law, at the time) I could get into.

KU is known for its city management program, the field I wish to enter after graduate school.

So when I got into KU, the best school (by far) for city management, the decision was a no-brainer.

I’m proud to say I will be attending the University of Kansas, where I will start in June (the MPA program starts at the beginning of the summer). I am a nervous (and a little scared) about moving so far away from home (and so soon, the beginning of June), but I know I can survive.

Posting might be a little light around here for the next month or so (or maybe I will do the usual and post on here to procrastinate). I’ve got to finish classes at Georgia, take finals, graduate, get packed up, move to Lawrence, get settled in, and become a Jayhawk.

Rock Chalk, Jayhawk!

I really like the new admin panel in WordPress 2.5.  Most used items are placed prominently, while little used links are placed out of the way.  WordPress 2.5 also runs considerable faster for me, which is always a plus.

Now, if only Eng would update his Akismet Spam script to WordPress 2.5, I would be in heaven.

One of the neat features of MNML is that the homepage actually allows me to make new posts, much like the amazing Twitter-like Prologue theme from Automattic, the people behind WordPress. Btw, I love the Prologue theme, absolutely amazing, I wish I had a virtual team to use Prologue with, and someone already came up with a chat bot for Prologue. Amazing. You can add this functionality to your WordPress site as well, by simply following this tutorial.

The MNML theme also has built-in CSS support for asides, which means I can more easily post links to the site for readers.

MNML is also close to being a tumblelog, a short-form weblog that allows different kinds of posts. Think Tumblr, which I have been messing around with but don’t want to use in a production environment. I think tumblelogs will become the new form of blogging, allowing people to more easily make shorter posts on a different variety of subjects (like videos, photos, chats, quotes, etc.).

MNML is named for the look: extremely minimal. Just what you and I need, and nothing else. Search, RSS, Twitter (added by me), Pages, Popular Posts, Categories, and Archives. Also, the theme comes boxed with an archive and a links page template (already put to use in my archives page). I also like the minimal look of the header, or in this case, the footer. I had to customize the pages on the right in the footer, but that was cut and paste WordPress stuff.

All in all, I like this theme. We’ll see how long it lasts, and if Ian keeps the theme updated (especially when WordPress 2.5 comes out next month). I always hate to see developers not update their themes so they work in the latest version of WordPress. But that is a different rant for a different day.

If you have any thoughts, suggestions, or complaints, as always feel free to leave a comment or reach me through the contact form.

PS - I’ve tested the site in Firefox 2, IE7, and Safari (on Windoze). Let me know if anything looks funny in your browser.

It’s not an option, but a mandatory security fix.

I just upgraded myself, so if you notice any strangeness on the site, hit me up in the comments or here.

The new version is alright, but I don’t like that they moved the post preview window off of the write a post page. I used that preview window everytime I wrote, so this new upgrade will take a little getting used to.

Thanks, and don’t forget to upgrade!

I haven’t told that many people, but this summer I am interning with Gwinnett County Government. In fact, I started this morning with orientation.

I am working in the Department of Planning and Development, with a cool group of planners on rezoning applications and long-term planning.

I think I am going to enjoy working at Gwinnett County this summer, and hopefully I can learn a few things to get me into a good MPA program (like UGA’s).

PS- These opinions are my own and not necessarily those of Gwinnett County.

But Hemingway-based themes are best when you don’t post all that often. This is because they typically just show 2 posts on the front page (better if you post less frequently), but if you post more often, you have relevant posts that readers can’t see very easily. And, it being finals time and everything, I have been posting more frequently (a trend I hope to keep up!).

The current theme is the newest version of a theme I have used before, Redoable. Now, I am using Redoable 1.2, which is indeed an incredible theme, created by deanjrobinson.

Redoable is an adaptation of the venerable K2 theme, which means it has many of the same flaws. The major issue with K2 (and, thus, Redoable) is something with the Sidebar options panel. In some cases, and of course mine, the K2 sidebar options panel doesn’t display.

My solution: install the sidebar modules plugin (which k2 bases their sidebar off of), and voila, a sidebar modules options panel should be available. You’ll probably want to copy over any modules from the /themes/redoable/modules/ folder you want to use, and put them in /plugins/sbm/modules/ folder.

I only have one other major issue, and that is the Firefox banner located at the top of the page, which is only visible if you are using Internet Explorer. Now, I hate IE (really badly; ask any of my friends, I want to convert them all to Firefox), but I don’t want to tick off possible readers who like IE by having the big banner at the top.

Supposedly you’re able to turn off the Firefox banner in the Redoable options panel, but I have the banner off right now, and it is still visible in IE (which bugs me). I really would like to find a solution to this problem, and the sooner the better.

*Update - May 3, 2007* I was able to fix the issue with the Firefox banner still displaying after turning it off in the Redoable options panel. I had to rig it, but it works, and hopefully didn’t tick off too many IE users. If you want to fix the same issue, remove (or comment out) lines 106 through 113 from header.php. I wanted to post the code here, but it wanted to display the html, not the code. Oh well. I guess one fix a night is good enough.

Last week, Card was interviewed on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It was quite an incredible interview, and I think the length of the interview (one of the longer interviews I have seen) is testament to Card’s importance within the White House (see the interview after the jump).

Many people don’t know this, but the White House Chief of Staff is one of the most powerful people in the world. The Chief of Staff is like a gatekeeper to the President, constantly keeping track of the President’s schedule, his or her needs, the White House staff, the country, and the world. Andy Card, when Chief of Staff, woke up every morning at 4:20 am and worked until at least 10 pm.

While powerful, the Chief of Staff position is one of if not the toughest job in the White House. It ruins marriages, causes harsh feelings from children, leaves little time to exercise, and causes a Chief of Staff to age quicker than anyone else around.

I think of the Chief of Staff as one of the unsung heroes of American politics and America in general. Without effective Chiefs of Staff, the White House would be out of control and little would get done.

One of the more recognizable Chiefs of Staff is probably Leo McGarry, Chief of Staff to President Josiah Bartlett in the TV drama The West Wing. Leo is certainly how I came to recognize the importance and power of the position of Chief of Staff.

Leo was a former Air Force pilot, who convinced then-Governor Josiah Bartlett to run for President. He was Bartlett’s campaign manager, and after they won, Leo was appointed Chief of Staff. He is the closest advisor (and best friend) to the President, and is intricately involved in everything. Leo is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the White House, and he sits at the President’s side in the Situation Room. But, the stresses and commitments of being Chief of Staff cause Leo’s wife to get a divorce, and Leo also has relapses of alcoholism (he had been treated for alcohol and Valium addiction before becoming Chief of Staff).

Despite all of the bad things that come with the job, I kind of inspire to be the Chief of Staff to the President one day. When I was growing up, I always wanted to be the President. But now I’ve seen how dirty and scandal-laden real politics are, and I don’t want to involve myself or my family in that. I would prefer to stay out of the limelight, back in the office next to the President’s.

In case you would like to learn a little more, here is an excellent article from the Washington Post about Andrew Card.

Second, I am switching between the Redoable theme (discussed here) and a futuristic reimplementation of my old Hemingway theme, called HemingwayEx. So, if you see different themes, or things broken, don’t be too alarmed. If something looks bad, though, leave me a comment here or contact me. I might already know about the problem, but it doesn’t hurt to be careful.

For those curious, here is what the old Hemingway theme looked like (click to see fullsize):

Here is the Redoable theme I have been playing around with (click to see fullsize):

And here is the HemingwayEx theme that is currently being used [hopefully, lol] (click to see fullsize):

And… I’m using a new piece of technology, called Lightbox JS, to allow you all to see the full-size pictures without having to leave the webpage. Click on any of the thumbnails above to see Lightbox in action.