Category Archives: Blogging

Out with WordPress (desktop) and in with Mars Edit 4

Years ago when I first started blogging and learned it was going to be a consistent thing in my online life, I downloaded blogging software called Mars Edit. I loved it. After I had been logging directly into my Blogspot account for a few years, the idea of using a ‘professional’ piece of software meant that I was now a serious blogger; almost as much as moving to my own hosting provider would seem a couple of years later. I kept Mars Edit for a while, then discarded it when WordPress’ own internal blog editor seemed to pass MarsEdit in functions. But mostly, I had to abandon the Mac platform as I needed a new computer and could not afford a new or refurbished Mac; I went Linux and using WP software was a perfect fit. (MarsEdit is Mac-only.) Then WP came out with their own desktop app and that just ‘blew me away’ with its functions. Not only could you write blogposts, but also administer and manage your blog, check stats and so on. I retained fond memories of Mars Edit but never thought I’d go back to it. 

But that all changed yesterday. I drafted of a post for Sober Catholic on my phone using the WP Android app, then afterwards tried to edit it on my Mac. I couldn’t. I got this error message:  “Proceed in External Browser? You have one or more plugins that prevent editing content within WordPress Desktop. Continue in an external browser?”  I got so mad that I went to Twitter and ranted in a series of Tweets:

“Seriously? The whole point of using the #wordpress desktop app is to avoid having to go online and blog. Blog offline, upload when done, see it on the blog. But according to a WordPress forum, a recent update broke this basic function. Great job! I used to use #marsedit a long time ago for all my blogging needs. I wonder if I can find my old license would I get a discount on an upgrade? (No idea where the license key is…. deep in some external hard drive…)”

To me, this was mind-bogglingly stupid. You have a popular piece of software that works just fine, and then you update it and these updates breaks the basic, core function of the app; as in ‘the primary reason for its existence.’ Who tested this? How could they have missed this basic flaw prior to software implementation? This was just…. so…. irresponsible and incompetent.

So I emailed the Mars Edit help desk with the info needed to assist them in finding my old license key, since it was buried in some folder on some external backup hard drive. It took them just a few hours (and on a weekend, too!) to locate it and email it to me. Plus, I also qualified for a 50% off upgrade discount (I had used MarsEdit 3, it is now up to version 4.) Well, I just couldn’t resist. I went through the process of buying it, connecting it to this and the Sober Catholic blog. This is a test post. If you are reading this then it was successful.

I deleted WordPress Desktop from my Mac; I also deleted it from my Android phone. I thought about keeping it but there’d be no point. If I am going to use my phone to compose a blogpost, then I may as well just login directly to the blog and go from there. I can save posts as drafts and edit them later using Mars Edit as the drafts will be pulled down to the Mac by Mars Edit.

So, that is that. I even briefly thought about leaving WordPress altogether in favor of some other blogging platform, but that is extreme, unnecessary, and hopefully the WordPress blogging devs aren’t as incompetent as the app devs. I rue the day when there is an update to the WordPress software itself that ‘breaks it,’ especially when so many sites utilize it.

 

 

 

 

Are you a creative Catholic? "The Catholicpunk Manifesto" is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Bathtub Blogging

Remember when you were a little kid and you had to take a bath? And you didn’t want to? You resisted with all your might, but in the end you did and then your parents couldn’t get you out of the tub. You hated the idea of taking  bath, but once you started, you were having so much fun splashing about and playing with the bath toys that they couldn’t get you out.

I think blogging is like that for me. I know I have a few posts to write but it’s like “I don’t wanna…” but in the end I do and find it fun and rattle off a few posts (sometimes just saving them as drafts.)

Funny how that is.

Are you a creative Catholic? "The Catholicpunk Manifesto" is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Willing to be ridiculous to obtain the miraculous, so please help

I tried posting this on LinkedIn either as a stand alone post or a profile description, but it exceeds the maximum length for either. Then I remembered that I have two blogs and so I decided to make use of them for this personal matter. The post title is an allusion to a famous quote of Mother Angelica, the Foundress of EWTN. She said, “Unless you are willing to do the ridiculous, God will not do the miraculous. When you have God, you don’t have to know everything about it; you just do it.” This kind of post sounds ridiculous, and proper people with proper concerns about proper appearances probably wouldn’t bother, but I am looking for the miraculous, and so be it. (However, I know quite a bunch about what I’m looking for, so there’s that…)

In this time of pandemic, with the relevant health concerns, (or scares, depending upon your POV) I am considering a career change. I hinted at my day job on a prior LinkedIn profile description (now edited out in favor of the current transitional one) but I would now like something different. What have I done for a living? Nice that you should ask: I am currently laid-off (due to the pandemic) from a thrift store chain where I received used goods at an outdoor remote donation center. What was a temporary job “until something better came along” has endured for over six years now. So, loyalty and perseverance are expressed character traits! I found that I actually enjoyed the work, hard as it was at times given the need to work in all types of weather and dealing with all types of individuals. I found the diversity of people and their offerings interesting, especially when they talked and told stories about themselves or their goods. I’d often wonder about the history of unusual or odd donations. Also, during periods in between receiving and sorting/stocking duties I found plenty of time to read and think, which assisted my enduring for 6 years. I even got a great idea for a novel which I have been puttering with.

My company is considering reopening next week (June 1st) in an upcoming “Phase.” Although I do welcome the opportunity to return, I have also enjoyed staying safe at home these past few months. I have health concerns which render me susceptible to COVID-19, although my health care professionals think I’ll survive. But given the impermanence of unemployment insurance, generous though it is, work is a need for personal dignity, economic sustainability and independence. I find myself wanting something that can make better use of my past professional, academic and general life-skills. And thus I am pursuing a career-change. I am seeking a remote (telework, “work-at-home”) position in what might variously be called “content creation,” or “freelance copywriting” or “copyediting,” in other words, you have a site or product that needs words, well, I got loads of ’em and I know how to use them, too! Another position that I would be interested in is chat-based customer service. After completing training on your company’s products and services and assimilating appropriate knowledge, I can serve customers who have issues and problems in a chat interface. (I prefer the written word to the spoken.) I use a Mac, hopefully this is not an impediment to any proprietary software.

If you’re interested, or have job leads, or even advice and prayers, please email me at the addresses found here: MY CONTACT INFO. You can also reach me through LinkedIn; my profile is Paul Sofranko on LinkedIn. The “About Me” page on my busier blog tells much. I am diligent, loyal, and possess a great work ethic. Salary is negotiable, I’d prefer flexible hours, or if fixed hours, then afternoons through evenings (i.e. “second shift.”) I am looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you for considering me, I do appreciate any interest.

Are you a creative Catholic? "The Catholicpunk Manifesto" is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Testing WordPress

Some time ago I downloaded the WordPress app for my smartphone in hopes of using it as an aid to blogging. I already used it for a post on Sober Catholic and it worked just fine.

Now I’m using it here for a test post to see if I can blog while offline and save as draft. It worked, the post was saved locally. I can edit it later and post it online.

I have no Internet at work unless I use mobile data, which I do as little as possible due to cost. But I do have plenty of downtime in between my duties; normally I read but with the addition of this app, I can now blog. Even if I keep them as drafts until I get home, this can be an improvement in my blogging efforts. Many times I get inspired at work to blog about this or that, on here or on Sober Catholic but by the time I get home, meh. The stuff remains as semi-legible scibbles on note paper (there’s a nice stack on the coffee table of things to eventually put to digital ink.) For those who may want to point out that over a year ago I consecrated my blogs to the Blessed Virgin Mary and thus I should be posting madly away, just a couple of things: “Nature vs Grace,” and maybe the consecration is working out just fine, measuring it by productivity is incorrect as “productivity” is a Protestant virtue. 😉 But now I can happily blog away. Just whip out my phone, write a draft, edit as the day goes on, and post it upon connectivity. (Oh, great. Another blowhard online using up electrons.)

One thing I enjoy about the WordPress app is that, along with the ability to totally manage and administer multiple blogs (or just one), you can comment on other people’s blogs as long as they are also using WordPress. Either a self-hosted blog using WordPress software or hosted on wordpress.com. This adds a social function to blogs that may serve as a limited means around proprietary social media like Facebook, et al. For those who enjoy using Facebook, etc., to vent, rant, philosophize and pontificate post observations on things, this can be a way to liberate yourself from the possibility of censorship with its accompanying restrictions and problems. Just start a blog. Get your friends and cohorts to do the same. Post your rants observations. Follow each other’s blogs. Comment on each others’ posts using the “Conversations” feature. Let the fun begin.

The mobile app is available in the usual app stores; the desktop version from here.

(Note: this was written on the smartphone app and slightly edited later at home. Possibilities…)

Are you a creative Catholic? "The Catholicpunk Manifesto" is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Alive for another year!

This blog remains alive for another year. (Seriously? You call this, “Alive?” ONE POST in the past year?!?!?!)

I almost terminated it last year due to inactivity along with no clear idea as to what to do with it. Well, I had some ideas, I just never followed through with them. (Turning it into a newsy, opinion blog was never one of the ideas. Too much noise out there as it is, no one needs to hear more of it from me.) But my hosting provider offered a coupon equal to the domain registration fee, and I took it and as a result whoever reads this got treated to one post about dead squirrels.

This year they did the same, but I waited a few days until I paid for the whole hosting account as well as the domain fees for Sober Catholic and my wife’s site Artist4God. And the coupon disappeared. So. That takes care of that. But then I heard a little voice saying ‘Try Customer Srervice Chat. Ask what happened, and maybe they’ll give it to you.” I did and they did and here this thing is for another year, and perhaps beyond.

Why? Good question.

This has got to be the oldest continuing blog with no sustained, continual purpose. It’s even had several name changes.  Dribs and drabs of direction and points, but….

I was going to download the posts and transfer some to Sober Catholic, perhaps edited, and in looking over a bunch I thought, “Darn, I’m good sometimes!” (Tongue, inserted in cheek. Wink.)  So, I’ll ponder and plan. (Again.)  (Oh, I think I had the idea at one point to turn this into my primary “social media” outlet, rather than use Facebook, et al. Use this and reshare where needed. That’s worth revisiting.

Are you a creative Catholic? "The Catholicpunk Manifesto" is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Thoughts on social media

I have been doing a lot of thinking recently about my use of social media (Facebook, etc.). It has come to my sad attention that it distracts me to the point of not getting enough done with regard to my blogging and fiction writing.

I have insufficient discipline. (No freakin’ kiddin’. Ya think?)

Or, even if I have the discipline, (name one day, dude) I do not use it effectively.

For example, I have something interesting to say. (Hey, it happens.) I post it on Facebook or wherever rather than on here or perhaps Sober Catholic. What’s up with that? These blogs cost money, I should use them rather than free platforms. Especially if and when the platforms collapse and become defunct (Remember Friendster or MySpace? At least, their initial versions?) all your stuff disappears into the digital void. And now something called MeWe is making the techie news.

The potential for collapse is an issue on another front. I follow, to the best of my ability, the ideals of Distributism. One of the fundamental principles of that very Catholic economic and social philosophy is that you own the means of production. “Own it or be owned.” The platform on which you share your “content” is a means of production.

I do not own my accounts on the various social media platforms. Someone else does and they use the “content” to make money. Fair enough, that’s the cost of a “free” platform. I do own this blog and Sober Catholic. (Well, actually I rent the domain names and the servers the blogs are hosted on. But essentially it’s the closest thing to ownership, short of building your own web servers and hosting your “content” on your own machines.)

Recently I ran across several chapters in the Imitation of Christ that seemed to be speaking of social media. I know the concept didn’t exist 500 years ago when Thomas a Kempis wrote his masterwork, but as is typical with Catholic inspirational works, it is timeless and applicable everywhere, everytime.

So:

Book 1 Chapter 8 “Do not open your heart to every man, but discuss your affairs with one who is wise and who fears God. Do not keep company with young people and strangers. Do not fawn upon the rich, and do not be fond of mingling with the great. Associate with the humble and the simple, with the devout and virtuous, and with them speak of edifying things.”

Book 1 Chapter 10: “Shun the gossip of men as much as possible, for discussion of worldly affairs, beven though sincere, is a great distraction inasmuch as we are quickly ensnared and captivated by vanity.

Many a time I wish that I had held my peace and had not associated with men. Why, indeed, do we converse and gossip among ourselves when we so seldom part without a troubled conscience? We do so because we seek comfort from one another’s conversation and wish to ease the mind wearied by diverse thoughts. Hence, we talk and think quite fondly of things we like very much or of things we dislike intensely. But, sad to say, we often talk vainly and to no purpose; for this external pleasure effectively bars inward and divine consolation.
Therefore we must watch and pray lest time pass idly.

When the right and opportune moment comes for speaking, say something that will edify.”

Courtesy: Catholic Treasury

There are a few other nice snippets in a few later chapters, as well as Scripture quotes that can be interpreted as cautioning us on the use of social media. Truth be told, any spiritual wisdom or advice on interactions with other people can me attributed to social media usage. (Wow, insightful.) But the simple fact that social media empowers people to share their viewpoints with audiences in the thousands (millions, even if you discover that lucky ‘viral’ quality!) causes me to consider its use.

This post is odd considering that just a little while ago I invited people to Connect with me on MeWe! So I have to include that in my cogitations. Incidentally, the mere fact that I feel the need to share with you my thoughts on this is perhaps part of the poison of social media. Like this is interesting to you. At least I don’t post photos of my breakfast nor share “check-ins” of where I am. 😉

So. What to do what to do how to discipline. Cogitations for my pondermatic. Sundays and Mondays are my days off; I can blog when I am not attending Latin Masses and gardening or going on daytrips with the missus. Posts can be scheduled for later in the week if needed. I can spent worknights writing and maybe dabble in more blogging.

I can try restricting social media for once-in-a while checkins. “No Facebooking or MeWeing until I blog or write!”

😐

Are you a creative Catholic? "The Catholicpunk Manifesto" is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

In Exile

“In Exile.”

Yes, I’ve renamed this blog. Again. Since this blog has near zero readers, I doubt it will be noticed, much less cared about. 😉 The title is similar to the “In the Land of My Exile I Praise Him” title from a few years back, only more manageable. 🙂

Why the change? A title other than “Paul Sofranko’s Blog” has the opportunity to bring a greater focus to whatever it is I’m doing here. “In Exile” fits as I do feel as if I am in exile, far from my true home which is Heaven. I hope to get there someday.

“In Exile” also fits a personal feeling or “self-identification” (to borrow an abused pop-psych term popular nowadays.) I never feel like I fit into any group I ever belong to. I alluded to that here. Whether it’s family, school, work or whatever, I always felt on the outside looking in. (Church has been an exception – Church in general, not parish.) Sometimes the feeling was so intense years ago that I felt that I was the only person really alive; everyone else was a product f my imagination (or God’s). There’s even a word for that, “solipsism.”

So, “In Exile” feeds off of that. It’s also dramatic and literary.

Are you a creative Catholic? "The Catholicpunk Manifesto" is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

Gratuitous year end post

Seriously, I have to blog more here…

Anyway, here’s a repost from my recovery blog, Sober Catholic:

“2016 is about to end. It’s easy to insult this past year, given the violence and chaos seemingly gripping the planet by the throat. I won’t even mention the presidential campaign in the USA. However, the bulk of the year was the Jubilee Year of Mercy, of which I took advantage of and am different as a result. Mainly from increased devotion to a few saints which has wrought a transformation within me, and greater appreciation of Divine Mercy and Providence.

2017 arrives in just a few hours. I feel it will offer “Something Interesting” but will refrain from explaining. 😉 It will be an important year in a number of ways, namely the 100th Anniversaries of the Marian Apparitions at Fatima and the founding of the Militia of the Immaculata by St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe. I will be blogging on both in 2017.

…

Happy New Year!”

Concerning the statements made in that post, I will also be blogging here on my membership in St. Maximilian Kolbe’s Militia, and perhaps on Fatima. Although not in an addiction recovery context. Not sure if I will explore what I think the “Something Interesting” is in 2017.

Later, dudes. Happy New Year!

Are you a creative Catholic? "The Catholicpunk Manifesto" is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

It was brought to my attention by a commenter…

…to the previous post Sticker Shock where I waxed existentially on my blogging efforts that I should, and I quote:

“yea, wellllllll get off fakebook and write something meaningful. Or stupid. You get the point. Do I have to have a point?”

The commenter is an aging ex-hippie jerk-of- I mean jack-of-all-online-and-some-mentionable-real-world-trades named “BroJer.” He used to blog here: BroJer’s Blog.

The dude also happens to be one of my best online friends. Scratch online. One of my best real world friends. Saying stuff like that irritates him and makes his inner child cry. 😉

He also has a point. I can’t think of anything meaningful to write now, so I’m offering this stupid post inspired by BroJer. (Incidentally, I did realize his point a while ago in Becoming antisocial. )

Miscellany:

Update on the hosting issue mentioned in “Sticker Shock”: we renewed with BlueHost for three years; based on some PayPal donations from some people who didn’t get the hint that they shouldn’t, as well as additional monies found here and there as well as from my speaking with BH customer service this morning and getting a nice discount, we felt it worth it to continue with them.

Update on the “Becoming antisocial” post: I’ve reengaged GooglePlus as I heard about the recent design changes there and discovered that I like them and find them to be useful. So, I’m basically sticking with Facebook, Awestruck and GooglePlus, but probably restricted to days off from work and writing/blogging (save for Awe which I plan to checkin with daily for a few minutes).

There! I think this was stupid enough, with a dose of self-absorption thrown in, too, for added effect!

Are you a creative Catholic? "The Catholicpunk Manifesto" is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)

In the Land of My Exile…

I might be doing it again. Changing the name of this blog. Oh, no. How whacked is that? 😉

I’ve been thinking, and now is a good time for this before this blog gets really noticed. It’s not as if I publicize it beyond automatic feed distribution to Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Twitter and my other two blogs. I don’t really do anything to make it well known. So for the time being, while it’s “finding its way” as my primary blog to yammer about writing, reading, and whatever else that may cross my mind and possibly motivate a blog post, now is a good period to continue contemplating its title.

I may revisit an old one. The previous title was “In the Land of My Exile I Praise Him,” which was from the Old Testament’s Book of Tobit (13:6). I felt that was fitting. This place (the country I live in on the planet it sits on) is not my permanent home, nor my true home. Heaven is. (Well, “permanent” if I make it there…) “And to “praise Him” is something we believers all should be doing, in our prayers and meditations, in our words and works, in the way we live. We are in “exile” here, just passing through this transient place, on a pilgrimage to where we’re meant to be.

As I mentioned in this post, I, Blog, I rejected “In the Land of My Exile I Praise Him” as being a little pretentious, at least for me. But what if I shortened it…

Now, “In the Land of My Exile…” is still somewhat Biblical, but not overly so (not that being “Biblical” bothers me). But with the ellipsis at the end, it adds an air of mystery. It just hangs there. What exile? What land? Where’s home? What does this mean? Is this just another idiot blowhard pundit pretending to be profound or literary in their self-examinations and introspections, as if anyone really cares?

It also is kinda science-fictiony/fantasyish, which is somewhat along the lines of the fiction I’m slogging through. The current novel I’m working on, as well as another work set in the same place with some of the same characters (see It wants to be a novel, but perhaps later) are more like “contemporary fiction with fantasy elements grafted on.”

I was thinking of “The Blog With No Name,” and have three blogrolls entitled “The Good,” “The Bad,” and “The Ugly.” Or maybe they’d be just groupings of “important” posts. I can also have a picture of me in a wide-brimmed hat for profile picture and favicon. But I quickly dismissed that idea.

So, like I said before, “Don’t come here looking for profound, insightful commentary on current events, Catholic or secular”, but I may take a look about the land of my exile and beyond, see what I see about me and write about it. Could be deep, could be something you’d rather print out and use as birdcage liner or do-it-yourself cat litter.

It’s still “Paul Sofranko’s Blog” regardless of the title. I read somewhere that a writer “has to” have a website/blog to “engage” people and “showcase” their stuff.

So…

  • my primary blog to yammer about writing, reading, and whatever else that may cross my mind and possibly motivate a blog post
  • take a look about the land of my exile and beyond, see what I see about me and write about it.
  • “contemporary fiction with fantasy elements grafted on.”

Hmmm…. a title to encompass all that…

Are you a creative Catholic? "The Catholicpunk Manifesto" is my new book exhorting Catholics to apply their faith to change the culture for the better!

Know someone, perhaps yourself, who might like Catholic devotionals for alcoholics? Please take a look at my books! "The Stations of the Cross for Alcoholics" and "The Recovery Rosary: Reflections for Alcoholics and Addicts" (Thank you!!)