Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Monday, July 18, 2016

Start of a Good Week (I hope)

I've been looking forward to this week. Actually it may be that I'm looking forward to two weeks from now. The political conventions will be behind us then and we can quit hearing about the horrible things that may happen at the Republican Convention. I thought I might enjoy watching some of it but it's 10:00 a.m. Monday morning and I've already gone to Mute.
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The last few days I've been working on myself about watching some TV again. So far I've only reminded myself why I gave it up years ago. I'm still hoping to find some non-news programs I enjoy.

Yesterday I tried to watch what was happening in Baton Rouge but it seemed like hours of footage of the pavement of a vacant parking area and a brick wall, over and over, and over. Not sure where they got that footage but it was worse than awful, probably from someone who called in with footage from their iPhone. The commentary was the same over and over again. I'm thinking I may enjoy TV best on MUTE.

I follow a few good reliable sources on Twitter. I'll probably just stick with them. 140 characters, or whatever, is about all I can take at one time anyway.
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I'm noticing some bloggers are switching to Wordpress. I've given serious thought to doing that. In fact I have a blog set up and ready to go on Wordpress but just haven't had the courage to make the switch.

I'd like to know why you stay with Blogger/Blogspot. If you've moved to Wordpress I'd like to know what caused you to choose Wordpress over Blogger?

29 comments:

  1. Hi Linda, I agree, it is nearly impossible to find anything worth watching on TV these days and the news is terrible, not just the news itself but how it is presented and repeated over and over. Not sure what to suggest. I know you don't enjoy cooking but one show I am really enjoying these days is the Great British Baking Show (or something like that) on Public TV. For some reason it is just totally delightful.

    I have tried Wordpress and it makes a very good looking blog, but I think that Blogger is a lot more user friendly. Also, it is a lot easier to find compatible people and interact on Blogger, at least that is my experience.

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    1. I think I would enjoy a cooking show about British Baking. I'll have to give Public TV a look.

      I agree Wordpress makes a better looking blog. I also find it more complicated to use than Blogger. It doesn't seem to do as many wacky things as Blogger and his said to have a much larger base of users. Like you I'm not sure if they the kind of bloggers I am are not. Sometimes I just get frustrated with Blogger.

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  2. How is Wordpress supposed to be superior to Blogger? I find Blogger easy to use and have no plans to switch.

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    1. I think the two are a like like apples and oranges, very different internally. Wordpress is much larger I think. Sometimes I just get frustrated with Blogger's limitations but at the same time I'm intimidated by Wordpress.

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  3. I rarely watch tv anymore, between the terrible prime time offerings and the sensationalized news reports, I find I'm much happier with the tv turned off.

    I've never tried Wordpress. The thought of trying to learn a new blogging program is enough to keep me using Blogger, despite it's faults.

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    1. One of the problems I have with watching TV is I've already filled my time with other things and I'd have to cut back on something to have some time for TV.

      I think about changing to Wordpress but doubt I ever will. I don't know if Blogger is easier to use or if it just seems easier because I've had so much more experience with it.

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  4. I'll be interested in the comments on Blogspot versus Wordpress. I'm new to the blogging world, and it was just happenstance that I chose Blogspot. And, I'm still learning the ins and outs of Blogspot!

    Have you tried http://www.aljazeera.com/news/ as a news source? They are on one of the cable channels as well as the internet. They are as balanced and professional as you can get. They cover world wide news. Definitely a different take than the news we are used to getting on our usual networks. Kind of nice for a change.

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    1. I think Wordpress is a much larger and superior system but it may be more than I need for the simple kind of blogging I do.

      Getting news is a problem for me. I'm still adjusting to the loss of newspapers. Thanks for the link, I'll check it out.

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  5. I don't have any experience with Wordpress other than when I want to comment on someone with it I get a message that I have to be member. I don't have any problems with Blogspot that I think would be any different by moving to another platform. They all have quirks from time to time. I have been on two other platforms that went out of business and all my old posts went away. It was also such a pain to build up a readership again that I've no desire to change just for the sake of change. them both.

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    1. Everything you say makes sense. I struggled to set up a Wordpress blog but am not sure I want to continue to struggle until I'm familiar with it. Much easier to stay with Blogger I think.

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  6. Why haven't I switched? Inertia is the biggest reason. It was hairy enough setting up my blog in the first place - I can't imagine starting from ground zero.
    And while Blogspot has annoyed me on occasion, I'm pretty sure it's more user friendly, as Connie says.

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    1. Believe me I know the feeling. I also suffer from inertia on this issue. I'm pretty simple with my blogging, probably best to just stay with what I have.

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  7. When I get back home I will be watching TV again. We have PBS programing on Sunday nights that we follow. During the summer months we watch news and HGTV a bit. We do have series that we follow during the fall/winter/spring programing season. I have always been a TV watcher. We do not have the TV on during the day, however. Daytime is for doing other things.
    We'll check into convention coverage and watch as much as we can stand.

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    1. One of my problems is I've filled all my time with other activities. To watch TV or movies I have to not do something else. I haven't figured out how to balance everything.

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  8. Oh, Blogspot vs wordpress? I have only ever used blogger and can't think why I would change.

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    1. I believe most of the blogs I read are on Blogger and I feel like Blogger works best with those blogs. I read a few on Wordpress and they do some beautiful blogs but perhaps aren't as easy to interact with given I use Blogger.

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  9. Good questions. I sometimes wonder about blogger.

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    1. I'm enjoying reading other people's opinions.

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  10. I am comfortable with Blogger and have had few problems. My blog is more of a personal journal and I am not out to make money or have a huge audience. I'm not a professional and do not aspire to become one. The Wordpress blogs I follow are not as easy to leave comments and you have to sign in if you are on an iPad. I am a very small fish in a very large pond. I swim in my own small circle and am completely happy with that.
    Glad you are starting off the week well! If your time is filled with other things then WHY would you consider TV? I have some favorite programs but they are mostly on PBS and the Discovery Channel. TV is on here because Louis Dean watches the news. I can take a little bit but then I need to go about my own rat killing instead of hearing about everyone else's!
    I will be ever so grateful to arrive at November 16! That's LD's 80th birthday and all this political drama will be DONE - one way or another!!!

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    1. I think I feel guilty living in a world of TV watchers that I haven't found the joy they have in TV. If I lived alone the TV would only be turned on in the event of a national event I wanted to watch. It's been years since I've watched TV and have filled my time with other things I enjoy. I do miss reliable news but am more and more convinced TV is not the place to find that. I miss good reliable newspapers. These days we're expected to absorb everything in small news bites on the run.

      I'm also a small fish in the pond of blogging. I guess I tried formatting a blog on Wordpress because it was there and I needed to prove to myself I could do it. I did, but it is not nearly as user friendly as blogger.

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  11. Only TV worth watching is PBS...many good series especially Sunday night.
    Their news show is more refined as well

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    1. I just need to get over this TV thing. Bob and some of our family are big fans of TV but they have no other hobbies or interests. I need to get over thinking people think I'm a snob because I don't watch TV.

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  12. I switched to Wordpress. It was sort of a matter of feeling abandoned by Blogger when it stopped updating followers' reading lists.
    Wordpress is a pretty steep learning curve but as I get the hang of it, I am liking it. The help feature is not very good, at least on the free option. I still have my blogger account to read the blogs I follow -- most are there.

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    1. I had a blog on Wordpress many years ago and it served it's purpose. It needed some features blogger did not offer. Wordpress has options that makes some beautiful blogs but I never found it as easy to use as blogger. I'll probably just keep the one I've recently formatted in reserve for the time when blogger does something stupid and I decide I've had enough.

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  13. I'm kind of with Marty with Blogger. I am fairly comfortable with it and its snafus are few.
    If it weren't for baseball, I would probably read my way through summer as far as TV goes. I record one news channel, then fast forward past what is redundant or not interesting.

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    1. They say FOX News viewers are aging out and dying off. Wonder if that's also happening to the other cable channels? Wonder if cable TV will eventually go the way of newspapers?

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  14. Well, I'm one who left Blogger for WordPress before I even had gone live with my blog. I started out trying to use Blogger, but I found it confusing. In the eight years I've been using WordPress, I've been very satisfied. There are many more options on WP, but that's just what they are: options. You can make things as simple or as complex as you like. It's an easy to use platform for individual bloggers, but has all the bells and whistles for those who need them.

    As for television? It's a non-issue for me. I got rid of my tv in 2011, and I'm completely happy with the decision. With no tv, no smartphone, no Facebook or other social media, I have more time for doing the things I enjoy. It's possible to stay updated on what's happening even without all that, and I figure if Armageddon does come, someone surely will let me know!

    I am thinking about changing my theme, but I rather like the one I have, and it's such an oldie-but-goodie that it's no longer available. If I give it up, I can't get it back. I'll probably just fuss for another couple of years and not make a change.

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    1. I love your attitude. I'll think about Wordpress a while longer. Perhaps one of these days I'll make the leap.

      If I lived alone I would probably get rid of my TV, though I have a grandson who still uses it for his Wii games. I also like to watch national events at times.

      Now you're pushing my buttons, I'm not giving up my iPhone. I love it. I can't imagine functioning without it. I also keep up with news events on Twitter and a few things on Facebook. My iPhone is my brain. I keep everything stored there.

      I truly miss not having a daily newspaper. Digital just isn't the same for me.

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    2. You're right about the newspaper. Houston used to have two good ones. Then there was one good one. Now there's just one, and it's not worth the cost of subscription. Ah, me!

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