This post should not be considered as just a mere rant. This actually works for job interviews and in my experience of the few that I have attended, it has certainly got the positive attention of the recruiter. So, how does it work? By definition, blogging can be at different levels – personal – which is focussed on personal likes/dislikes etc and hence, is already driven by some niche. The other end of blogging is – professional blogging – which is primarily done by people who earn their bread and butter by means of blogging. Such are writers who majorly write about specific areas – such as Technology, Blogging, Making Money Online, Entertainment, Television, Pop culture etc. They are the next generation of press reporting, and arguably pose a threat to the traditional news reporting. Such is the impact that News reporters and the likes have resorted to Blogging online. So, coming back to the question is how does Blogging add value to one’s resume?
This is my first Tablet. I am still convincing myself that it was worth spending 90 quid over it. I know it is not a good sign to be struggling right at the beginning of buying a product. I mean, you’re supposed to love and adore your newly bought stuff. But I am already having second thoughts; not because it is a bad product, but because I am questioning my own ability to use it to the fullest extent. But what the heck! I have it, and I will keep on trying until I churn out my Monalisa. Here’s my first attempt (an Anime girl sketch nonetheless !)
But just because it is so cool to unbox your new gadgets, (blogs like Gizmodo and Engadget have done zillions of such posts), I decided to do the same when my box arrived last evening. So just enjoy the pics below.
The Box is so bigger than the actual Tablet.
*****More pics after the Jump*****
Choosing the Right Wordpress Theme
I hope you people might have noticed that I have two blogs, one is this- Techkeyla, and the other one is OneKnightStands or as most of my mates call it- OKS. It was launched alongside Techkeyla, last year when I joined the independently blogging band-wagon and left the Blogger camp. Things have been great since. Visitors multiplied, my posts got linked and I got readers from all across the world. But unfortunately I haven’t been able to write as much. So to break the hibernation, I thought of redesigning the theme. I was happy with the previous theme for it supporting my long posts and clarity of font. But I needed change. After all it was a year old. So I began my hunt for the perfect wordpress theme to work on.
Sources of Free Wordpress Themes.
My search began with a google search, but it was just not quite adequate. So, the search led me to multiple other blogs and other sources which I am sharing with you.
1. Smashing Magazine
Just love this blog and the exhaustive amount of sources these guys have. Check the following posts e.g.
100 Excellent Free WordPress Themes
83 Beautiful Wordpress Themes You (Probably) Haven’t Seen
2.The next huge resource for anything wordpress is Mashable. For themes, I seeked help from the following posts.
30+ WordPress 3-Column Themes
30+ WordPress 2-Column Themes
And then there are numerous other blogs providing lists of numerous Wordpress Themes. Some of them are listed below (after the jump).
Right! I have been on quite a long hiatus now. Almost two months. The last post was on July 30th. Both my blogs, this one and OKS have been quite dead. Not that many people have been asking me why, but I do feel the need to explain why. Well, simple and plain, I have been busy. And not simple, plain busy. It has been a helluva hectic ass-pounding 2 months for me. And to top that, I have been dwelling in an offline world. You ask me, how’s that possible. It is, indeed. Yeah, the occasional online sessions at a cybercafe don’t count, do they?
How do you expect me to get hold of everything in the techno-blogosphere and elsewhere from a cubicle, with no-AC, a shitty keyboard which makes me hit the keys like I was Lars Ulrich, a Monitor which has its own idea of colors, a USB port which wouldn’t recognise mine, and at the end of it all , charge me Rs.35 for an hour. Bitches! All I could do was check my mail, mail back the important ones, and by that time (yes, I indeed didn’t mention the disconnections and the snail speed), the hour bell has rung.
And why was I exactly in such a place. Coz I was preparing for my education loan, back at home. And as they say, ” All’s well that ends well”. The ending was certainly happy and it marked the beginning of a new era. Here I am, in England, Southampton. I am studying M.Sc in Management Sciences in University of Southampton, and I am loving it here. Hope to write more posts soon.
Ciao!
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/| |\ | |___ | |/__U| _ |uU/| . \\u | |___ U_|"|_u\| |/__ / ___ \
u |_|U |_____| \____||_| |_| |_|\_\ |_____| |_| |_____|_/ \_\
_// \\_ << >> _// \\ // \\ ,-,>> \\,-.<< >>.-,//|(_ // \\ \\ >>
(__) (__)__) (__)(__)(__)_") ("_) \.) (_/(__) (__)\_) (__)(_")("_)__) (__)
There you go, we have done it!!!
The unformatted version is:
_____ U _____ u ____ _ _ _ __ U _____ u __ __ _ _
|_ " _|\| ___"|/U /"___||'| |'| |"|/ / \| ___"|/ \ \ / / |"| U /"\ u
| | | _|" \| | u /| |_| |\ | ' / | _|" \ V /U | | u \/ _ \/
/| |\ | |___ | |/__U| _ |uU/| . \\u | |___ U_|"|_u\| |/__ / ___ \
u |_|U |_____| \____||_| |_| |_|\_\ |_____| |_| |_____|_/ \_\
_// \\_ << >> _// \\ // \\ ,-,>> \\,-.<< >>.-,//|(_ // \\ \\ >>
(__) (__)__) (__)(__)(__)_") ("_) \.) (_/(__) (__)\_) (__)(_")("_)__) (__)
READ BETWEEN THE LINES MATE!! HEHE..
It seems like a moment of triumph. Seems like what started as a silly hobby, and having fought many obstructions and other temptations and having not given up after almost 3 years of blogging, has finally paid off. I got my first interview published on an e-mag called Pakspectator.
It is an online magazine encompassing different topics and they feature interviews of writers, passionate bloggers, webmasters et al. I believe that I belong to the second kind. They contacted me and I couldn’t help say anything but yes. Very soon, they replied me with a long list of questionnaire which included questions on my blogging experience etc.
An excerpt:-
Is there anyone from your past that once told you you couldn’t write?
Oh yes many, including my English teacher back at school. I never gave standard answers which were marks friendly.
If you could pick a travel destination, anywhere in the world, with no worries about how it’s paid for – what would your top 3 choices be?
New York- Big Apple
Cupertino – Home of Apple
Tokyo – Home of Jap-Anime
How bloggers can benefit from blogs financially?
There are ways to generate income through blogs. Though I do not blog professionally, and haven’t made a reasonable income from my blogs, there are bloggers who make their entire living from it, and even make a killing. I am still searching for the answer to this question myself.
Is it true that who has a successful blog has an awful lot of time on their hands?
It might be true, and might not be as well. I blog whenever I can. It does not come across as a hindrance to my work (may be the other way around is true). But I do know of people who have very tight schedules but also regularly maintain their blogs which are successful as well.
Leaving aside the bandwagon of celebs (read Bollywood celebs) who cash in on their celeb status to catapult their online presence, there are in fact people with demanding careers who also blog and do a commendable job at it too.
You can read the full interview here. I feel so elated and a bit like a snob as well. Good going Sujoy!!!
Cheers!!
It has been a good 6 months since the launch of Techkeyla. And well, I was very happy with the O2-20 Theme that I had for this one. But it has been here since day one. And well, the itch for a change in the theme had been troubling me for quite some time. It actually began when I saw the Underscore theme of Upstart Blogger. I loved the simplicity of the Theme, the Underscore in the Title, and the clean white background. But then, I had issues with its Post Width and its sidebar size. And then, I saw Chris Pearson’s Cutline 1.3 -3 Column Split. Instantly liked the whole simple layout, white blackground and well, the rotating header image. The theme is widget ready.But needed some changes to be done. The original theme can be downloaded here. ( Download Link ) And well, did the following changes.
Edited the Header Images. Created a few customised ones with GIMP. Front Page: Kept the theme of my previous Techkeyla intact for the Front Page header. It shows the 3 pillars of what TECHNOLOGY is today. Apple – Google -Microsoft. Moving on to the Single Post page, I included the gadgets that rule the web space today. From the iPhone to the 360, PS3, Wii, Guitar Hero et al.
Yes, I ran into troubled water yet again. My webmaster decided to shift my server to a new one, and hence had to go through the process of backing up my blogs, and getting them up again from scratch. It is indeed a pain, at least it was for me. I made a whole list of blunders and I screwed up badly. The result, my blog went offline for a whole 3 days. How frustrating it is to find your blog’s main page set to a white background displaying “Error in establishing database connection”. So this is what you should actually do when you backup your Wordpress, and get ready for setting your blog on a new server.
Things to remember:
Have your wp-content folder in wordpress backed up , including your uploads, images, plugins and themes. I forgot to do it, and my last minute panic was a definite qualifier for the YouTube humor Video Awards. If you DON’t do this, what you’ll end up seeing is your lovely blog set to the default Wordpress Classic theme. Trust me, it HURTS.
(I am not mentioning the other details involved with shifting of the DNS or namespaces etc. My assumption is, that you have your URL ready and directed to the server where you are about to setup your already existing blog.)
So, here we go. First, as mentioned in my previous post, have your backup database ready. Ensure that it has been properly downloaded and that the file isn’t corrupt. Try opening the SQL file in a text editor like Notepad or Wordpad and you should be able to read the contents. The SQL contains your DB Name. Remember this is the DB name which you are gonna use.
