Have you ever wanted to accomplish something and seemingly everywhere you turn, there is a new task you should complete? That about sums up my slow progress with this blog.
I bought one of the books for WordPress (for Dummies, of course) and managed to start several YouTube WordPress videos, only to stop part way through to make a note about this or that or see that they recommend using another hosting service, blah, blah, blah. So I started a diagram to help me see what all I want to do.
As I thought I was making progress on my own, I ran into stumbling blocks.
I wanted a professional looking theme, so I chose one of the free ones from the WP site and uploaded a picture. What resulted was not what the theme looked like, but a small picture (which I had uploaded) above my name. Try a different theme. Seemingly no difference. Then a third theme, with a picture already there, and voila!, It looks like the theme picture. One step of progress!
The theme doesn’t have two columns of Comments, Recent Posts, Archives, etc., but mine does. Hmmm. Maybe not totally solved yet. Note to self: Finish a video or the book. Pick one.
Then I looked at plug-ins. The WP for D book said to always use a spam plug-in, so I added that. Then as I was watching one of the WP YouTube videos, I thought I would add another one. Clicking on plug-ins didn’t do anything. After trying it several times, I read that I must download the plug-in before trying to install it. Silly me. I thought clicking would bring up a nice list of available plug-ins. I’ll report later whether the new method actually works.
One of the videos showed checking a box to be sure all the software and plug-ins are updated. No such option available in my version. Does WP change so frequently that what was an option only 4-5 months ago is now gone? No wonder they wanted me to check the auto update. Maybe that is the only option and as such, is no longer an option.
So, circling back to the rabbit trails, as you can see above, there is a logo to be made. A YouTube intro, outro and, oh yeah, a custom thumbnail for each video. Gotta add that to my diagram. And since I may do a few unboxings, what’s in the bag, etc. kind of videos, then I need to have some kind of Amazon Partner thing for what ever minuscule amount is sent to the referring partner.
Then there is the app to send postings to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, social-app-of-the-month at the same time. This is a lot of work! I’m ready for the fun part to start! (Quick, what is the fun part again?)
Adios muchachos, hasta próxima vez. Until next time.
mattsb99
mattsb99 
My developer friends have referred to this as “shaving yaks” for some reason. Rabbit trails sounds a lot more pleasant.
Actually, here’s an excerpt of a post I found on StackExchange explaining the term:
“Yak Shaving is the last step of a series of steps that occurs when you find something you need to do. ‘I want to wax the car today.’
‘Oops, the hose is still broken from the winter. I’ll need to buy a new one at Home Depot.’
‘But Home Depot is on the other side of the Tappan Zee bridge and getting there without my EZPass is miserable because of the tolls.’
‘But, wait! I could borrow my neighbor’s EZPass…’
‘Bob won’t lend me his EZPass until I return the mooshi pillow my son borrowed, though.’
‘And we haven’t returned it because some of the stuffing fell out and we need to get some yak hair to restuff it.’
And the next thing you know, you’re at the zoo, shaving a yak, all so you can wax your car.”
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