Conversations with Calliope- Catching up with Joomla

(Independence Day)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
JOE: Chipper.
CALLIOPE: Oh?
JOE: Accomplishments tend to further brighten my usual cheery mood.
CALLIOPE: Such as?
JOE: After much head scratching and experimentation I finally managed to load the web server Xampp on my computer and install a functional copy of Joomla, a free web development program I wish I had know about before I delved into Dreamweaver.
CALLIOPE: How much progress have you made?
JOE: I got everything installed and started working on a tutorial to learn the requisite skills.
CALLIOPE: How's it coming?
JOE: I find it easier to understand than Dreamweaver and am excited about the many possibilities.
CALLIOPE: And if you get stuck.
JOE: I have a website developer (actual person) who has offered to help me get unstuck.
CALLIOPE: Sounds like progress.
JOE: I think so. I will be away tomorrow and will talk with you again on Monday.

Conversations with Calliope- Ready for the Big Time

(Trial Flight)

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How's your website development coming?
JOE: I've had my ear to the ground, nose to the grindstone and shoulder to the wheel most of the week.
CALLIOPE: Wow. Did the effort pay off?
JOE: I'm getting there. I tried one version live and wasn't satisfied with it. Back to the drawing board.
CALLIOPE: And?
JOE: The new version is ready for a trial flight today.
CALLIOPE: What do you expect?
JOE: I hope it flies. My deadline is the end of the week. I am more confident that I know what I'm doing now.
CALLIOPE: Best of luck.
JOE: Thanks. I think I know how Orville and Wilbur felt at Kitty Hawk.
CALLIOPE: Interesting comparison.
JOE: Off to the proving grounds. Talk with you tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope- On with the Show

Snail's Pace

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
JOE: Back in high gear.
CALLIOPE: Explain.
JOE: Yesterday's mail brought my book, Dreamweaver CS4- The Missing Manual.
CALLIOPE: How did that change things?
JOE: I have been struggling to make sense of Dreamweaver from the tutorials online and fiddling with the program to try to understand it, mostly to no avail. Now that the book has arrived, so has hope of understanding and using Dreamweaver.
CALLIOPE: So you were right about a book being more useful than online materials.
JOE: I don't know if this is true for everyone, but it certainly is for me.
CALLIOPE: I'm glad there is hope. Whats next?
JOE: My first inclination is to jump right in and redesign my old website.
CALLIOPE: But?
JOE: But I decided to take some time to learn how to use Dreamweaver first and once I become familiar with it, use it to reformulate my site. Talk with you tomorrow.

Conversations with Calliope

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. Ready for another week?
JOE: I guess. I have been making some changes but having trouble incorporating them. I have a new logo which I created yesterday.
CALLIOPE: I noticed. So you are doing a little drawing and painting as well as writing?
JOE: Yes. I thought I needed to do something a little different.
CALLIOPE: What else did you do yesterday?
JOE: Quite a bit of yard work with Carol. Later, I finally got to read the current issue of Writer's Digest and enjoyed finding a raft of websites related to writing. I will have to explore them when I get a chance.
CALLIOPE: When will that be?
JOE: Little by little. I will start with some editing of Marital Property this morning. As I mentioned last week, my editing work tends to end up on the back burner with all my excitement about marketing. Sometimes is is hard to keep a balance.
CALLIOPE: I can't argue with you there. I'll try keeping you upright in you chair and your fingers in motion.
JOE: Thanks for the steadying influence.
CALLIOPE: What else is on the docket this week.
JOE: It's time for another column. I was thinking of writing one about priest abuse in reaction to the Pope's comments the other day.
CALLIOPE: That's a bit controversial, isn't it?
JOE: I suppose so. But this is an issue I have been thinking about for some time and just finished Marital Property about this issue. I think it's about time I said something public about the issue. Guess I had better get on with it. See you tomorrow.

(Lillian Hellman's Cabana- Aquinnah, Martha's Vineyard)

Horses and Hot Rods

One of the fascinating things I found in A Natural History of Love about coming of age is that girls focus the romance of relationships on horses and boys on cars. These are the vehicles through which girls and boys first imagine what romance is about. I guess it should not have been any big surprise, but it is just one of those things I had not really thought about. Our bodies, minds and souls are fascinating as are the travels we have on the physical, intellectual and spiritual planes through our lives. I am always amazed that no matter how long I live there is still more to discover.