Calling Out My Technical Peeps

I have been thinking for quite sometime that I would like to set up a website of my own but I have no clue where to begin or what I need to do. There is some part of me that realizes how pathetic this is in this day and age but hey, I know I can count on my more technical friends to help me out. So in list form, this is exactly what I would like to do:

-either import or point this blog to the new website.
-have the capability to link directly to other places where I have an online presence (namely Facebook, Twitter and my online store, Zazzle).
-have a few pages dedicated directly to certain things (for example one for an about me kind of thing, one for my work in PTA/Education, one for more professional type things like my resume etc).
-something with a very basic, easy way to update and maintain the site (and by easy I mean even someone as relatively clueless about this type of thing can figure it out).
-I would like to do this all in the most inexpensive yet effective way possible.

Can any one help me figure this out? I did go online but was overwhelmed with the amount of choices and possibilities out there. Even if that wasn't the case, I would still prefer the advice and assistance of someone I know.

Websites I Frequent

The Motherlode

The Hechinger Report

Citizens For Public Schools

The National PTA

The Massachusetts PTA

The Mom Bloggers Club

Twitter Moms

The Education Sector

Please Stop the Rollercoaster

Healthy Kids

Middleboro Public Schools

Yankee Magazine

Family Fun Magazine

So...

...if I have my own domain name (which I do) and I want it to point to another site (say, like a shutterfly professional photo gallery) how do I make that happen?

Does anyone know...

...if I can auto-forward my Verizon email right to my gmail account? I use Outlook and I can't seem to find an auto-forward option(if such a thing exists). I wonder if i can set that up right at the Verizon website?

***UPDATE***Nevermind, I figured it out.

Technical Question

So, I downloaded FF3 the other day and now, some (not all) of my bookmarks are showing up in my drop log. I can't seem to figure out how to get them out of the log. I am sure it is just a setting that I am not seeing or something, but I didn't know if anyone had any idea how to fix it?

Does anyone...

...(ahem Jay, Suz, Heath) how to make a picture not "right-clickable?" I realize that this doesn't exactly prevent copying of the picture (because I am pretty sure that it will just end up somewhere on the computer anyway) but it will prevent the "average joe" computer user from copying pictures and figuring out where they end up even if they don't copy them. I was thinking of posting some pics that I took over at the photography blog, but wanted to "protect them" in case I decide to sell them at some point.

So, all you computer peeps out there, a little help please?!?!

Thanks!

Why Yes, I Am Clueless About Such Things

So, my new computer plays DVD's. I wanted to put my Uncle's retirement video up here (because it's very impressive and well worth sharing) but think I might need some special software to "rip" the files and get them on my computer? Am I right about this? I can play it using Windows Media Player but I can 't seem to find a way to transfer or save the files to my computer.

Anyone know?

Email Fixed

After Verizon resolved their problems I still couldn't send email so I ended up changing some antivirus and spyware settings and now all is right with the world. Antivirus and spyware are great, but I often wonder if they are more of a pain in the butt then anything else.

In other technology related news, my cell phone, which has been in dire need of replacement finally came up for a upgrade. I just ordered a Motorola Razr, black in color. It looks like a good phone and I know a couple of people who have had it and liked it. Best of all, it was free so really I can't complain. It should arrive here by Friday.

Conversation

Me (to Emily who was reading in my office when I was fooling around with the new computer yesterday): "Em, you might want to leave now, because I am about to be a total geek (this after discovering that I can plug my camera card directly in to both my computer and printer)."

Emily: "I am so outta here."

Reccomendations

We are thinking of getting a new computer. I figure that the kids are going to start needing one better than what is upstairs soon enough, and, we should think about getting them online up there as well (with of course, parental blocks in place as necessary). It's the 21st century afterall, a life and school and everything is bound to get more technical.

Anyway, the plan is to give the kids our computer (a Dell Dimension 2400 which is four years old, I think). It runs on XP and has sufficient memory etc. for what I think they will need.

I had every intention of buying another Dell, because well, why not? We haven't had any major problems with it, and the one time I ever had to call tech support they were helpful (although it would have helped if the rep spoke English). Other than that though, no problems. Oh, and did I mention how inexpensive Dell's are? Like dirt cheap in comparison to other systems.

I just figured I would ask though. Maybe someone has other ideas and experiences they would like to share. Have at it!

Email Issues

So, even before I did a wipe out of the computer, I was having email issues. People would tell me they sent something to me and I never got it. It appeared to be an issue with people mailing from hotmail, but now, it appears to be going beyond that. I have tried to send myself test emails to my Verizon email and a yahoo address I have set up and they have not been received. It's very sporadic. Once in a while my mother, who has a hotmail address has been able to send me things with no problem...other times it doesn't go through. Last night, I sent a blanket email to those people with email addresses I remembered, asking them to send me any contacts they had that I might find useful and I know at least one of those people (coincidently my mother) received it. So I have no clue what is going on. I have checked all of my settings and everything seems right. I have a call in to Verizon and they are working on it. In the mean time, if you have emailed and I have not responded, please don't be offended. From what I can tell I can still receive email through yahoo so you can email me there (comment on this post and I will send you the yahoo address).

Silly me...

...forgot to print all of my email contacts before I just gave the computer a major overhaul. Duh. I got all of my pictures and everything else backed up but forgot to do the email contacts.

So...if you think I had (or you want me to have) or think I would want to have your email address, and you have mine, can you email it to me?

And if you understand what the hell I just said, bonus points for you.

Anyway, thanks!

PDF Question: Answered

I ended up having to print it one page at a time (which was suggested by Jay in my comments just after I had thought of it myself...great minds and all of that). It was annoying, but it worked.

Thanks all, for your input.

Does anyone have any idea...

...why I can't print a full pdf document? It's one specifically that I am referring to and even though I select print all, it only prints the first two pages. Weird.

Does anyone know how to...

...make an image "unclickable"? As in not allowing someone to right click and save the image? I am trying to set up an etsy shop and want to set the pictures up in that manner. If not, I will just photoshop them with a "proof" statement faded in somewhere.

Technical Qestion

Emily and Katherine have a computer upstairs (a Gateway to be exact). Because she is brilliant, Emily somehow figured out how to put a username and password on it so that when you boot up, before you can do anything else, you have to enter a password. Great, right? Not so great though when you completely forget the password.

I like to think of myself as somewhat "computer savvy" but this one has me stumped. I re-booted and hit F1 to get to the settings and went to the security tab. One of the options was "clear user password" which I tried to do and it didn't clear. I also tried just using the Gateway restoration disk and booting from the CD, but it said something about NT files and that I couldn't boot from the CD because of that.

I can't seem to think of what else to do (I even tried entering random passwords to see if it would eventually error and just do whatever but that didn't work either.

So all my technical people...any suggestions?

Technical Question

Does anyone have any idea why, after installing a brand new printer Cartridge, my printer will not make a black and white copy? It shoots out a blank white page.

I have removed the plastic tag thingy on it, it appears to be installed correctly and nothing else is wrong that I can tell.


It's a Lexmark 1100 series all-in one, if that helps.

I forgot to say...

...I am pretty much in love with this new layout/color scheme I have going on here. The blue was getting old. The green just gives the page a whole new life.

Thoughts?

I volunteered, last night at a meeting supporting an override here in town, to design a website for our newly formed committee. Time is short, money is tight, and my patience for website design is in short supply. So, I am looking for your advice.

What I would like to do is design a professional looking site (or as professional as one would expect out of a stay at home mom volunteering her time) which has features like calendars, forms that can be filled out and emailed back to me (to sign up to volunteer), possibly a way of polling visitors and things of that nature. I am looking for the simplest(drag and drop would be fantastic)and least expensive way of doing this, without scrimping on the quality. Moreover, if there is anyone out there in Middleboro reading this that supports paying an additional $280 ( based on a house valued at $350,000)in property taxes to support the children of this community that would like to, well, do this for me, please, step right up.

Seriously though, any thoughts? What have you used in the way of host and site providers? Financially speaking, we can spend the bare minimum, at least for now, while we are getting organized.

Email Question

As much as I love Mozilla Thunderbird as my email program, I can't seem to figure out how to set it up so that a "signature" is attached to every email I send. They have some sort of thing called a "vcard" but it appears that the person receiving the email actually has to click on the card to see the inforomation. I am looking for it to just "appear" below my name.

Example:

Dear Blogging friends,

How the heck can I get my signature to appear on every email?

Thanks!

Sharon

Sharon Ellis
lia sophia jewelry adivsor
http://www.liasophia.com/sharonellis
http://ryshemkaju.blogspot.com


Anyone know?