Joomla! And How Wiki Broke My Heart

In my endless pursuit of anything worth having a headache about, I was aided by my current place of employment and was asked to ‘get to know’ Joomla. As I’ve mentioned a number of times, I’m not an idiot. But going through stuff, technical in nature, which is required as my job revolves around the wonderful place called the internet, I sometimes feel inadequate. That’s the magic of ignorance, though. You can always fix it. And that’s just what I did. Or rather, have a co worker explain to me.

Let me enlighten you.

Wiki, how could you?

I was told to go through Joomla and acquaint myself with everything about it. This was a piece of cake, I thought since all I need is in Wikipedia. Yay! But alas, Wiki has failed me. Oh, disappointment! *clutches chest and moans*

Joomla! is a content management system platform for publishing content on the World Wide Web and intranets as well as a Model-view-controller (MVC) Web Application Development framework.

This was the definition my ex-beloved Wiki gave me about Joomla with an exclamation point. But being such an egghead as I was, every word just whooshed past me. I was like, Huh? Then I had to click each link they have in the article to know what those are. Content management system. Clicked on that and another definition beyond the understanding of ladies who like the internet but doesn’t know where it came from popped up. I went through that then another Wiki page of equal mystery came up, and this went on for a while until I realized just because I’m as ignorant as Homer Simpson (love the dude!), doesn’t mean everybody has to be. So I did what I should’ve done in the first place: I asked.

Fortunately, I’m surrounded by people who are blessed with technical superpowers; I just had to pick one. So, I would like to take this opportunity to thank from the bottom of my heart, which now has a space for another as Wiki has recently broken it, “Thank you Michael Amban.”

The gist of Mike’s explanation was this:

Joomla, I’m sorry, Joomla! is a program that allows people as ignorant as me to edit websites without knowledge of html. Now you’re like, Huh?. Okay, it’s like this. Suppose you purchase a website through one of the many hosting companies out there. You set it up and of course you have to edit it and publish and update as often as you have the need for. Joomla! is a software that you download to your hard disc and then transfer to your site by means of file transfer programs like Filezilla. When Joomla! is already in your site, it’d be real easy to edit content even for people who don’t know html.

Don’t interrupt.

Have you tried blogging on any site at all? See those little tags on both ends of your sentences that look like this: “</b>”? Those are called HTML tags. If you, like me, have no idea what tag to use for italics or bold letters or other such and such, Joomla! helps you edit your site without knowledge of these tags. Cool, no?

Another cool thing about Joomla! is it gives you access to amazing plug-ins, or what I call Bedazzlers, that can make your site look like a professional made it. You can put a community type page on it, like Facebook, by using the plug-in called JomSocial. So you can create a site for your old high school batch, maybe, and put JomSocial on it so you can get everybody updated on what everybody else is up to. Makes stalking easy, if you ask me.

With this new knowledge of the awesomeness Joomla! has to offer, I now have been purged of my fear of creating my own website. It gave me hope. And who knows, maybe next post I’ll be all out promoting my new site with Jomla!’s assistance. It might take my mind away from my awful disappointment with Wiki.

The City of Smiles Vs. The City of Love

The VS. in the title should warn you of the main topic this blog would be discussing. If not, then we would need to re educate you, which would take weeks and would not give you time to read this blog now. Run along, my sweet.

So, for those remaining and have at least a basic knowledge of abbreviations and their meanings, let’s start.

I spent last weekend in the second city I call home, a small one south of my current place of residence and home of the Masskara Festival. Monday off meant a long weekend and rather than starving myself in Iloilo, I decided to make a smart move for once and spend my extended weekend eating my mom’s cooking in Bacolod. And boy, am I still full.

Besides eating like an inmate on death row in his last hours, though, I also had time to think of things I already put in the back of my mind when I moved back here. When one has been a resident of two cities, one can’t help but compare the two, especially when one is bored. So in the spirit of honesty and that feeling you get when you want to incite a heated debate but don’t want to really say it out loud, I would like to present the list that all inhabitants of both cities must have.

In Iloilo City:

1. Cuter jeepneys. Yep. The City of Love is home for the best looking jeepneys this side of the Pacific. And you don’t realize that until you set foot in the land of sugar canes. I don’t mean to say that Bacolod has hideous-looking jeepneys; all I’m saying is they’re butt-ugly. I rode on one the first time I was there; I accidentally dropped some change and they went straight to the streets. No hope of recovery since the jeepney driver couldn’t hear me with all the clunking noise the vehicle was making. And, what’s more, they have the slowest public utility vehicles, or rather the slowest drivers for public utility vehicles. These men worship corners and would spend at least 15 minutes at each one with no regards to the fact that the jeepney is full and there are no other people in sight that could possibly want to ride the jeepney.

I think they’re praying.

2. Better customer service. This came as a huge surprise for me as I have been crusading for the destruction of all Iloilo Supermart employees for years now. I was of the opinion that they were the vilest, most irritating pretend-clerks that ever existed.

I was wrong.

I met some who can give IS employees a run for their money. And these weren’t from out of the way, small businesses but big franchises like Chowking and SM. 

I was in Watson’s one time looking for a St. Ives moisturizer and of course was just happy to ask for assistance from an employee, and I was treated worse than if I was at a Bureau of Internal Revenue office 20 minutes before lunchtime.

In Bacolod City:

1.Cleaner environment. Go around down town Iloilo for two hours between 9am and 5 pm. The dirt and grime that you collect in those two hours equal the dust and grime you collect going around down town Bacolod from 9am-5pm for two days. Believe me. I’m as serious as Mel Carreon every time he runs.

2.More eating choices. They have more restaurants along one street than in all of Iloilo City. They have Bob’s Cafe, which is cheaper than Coffee Break and more delish than Starbucks. And while you’re at it, they also have Starbucks. Not to mention that the best tasting litson manok I’ve ever tasted came from Bacolod.

I’m not siding with either of the cities I mentioned, you must understand (iloilo! iloilo!); I’m just looking out for you. You know me. I care more about other people than I do myself.

*looks away and whistles* … Ummm…what were we talking about?

Oh, that! So,yeah, visit both places and check to see if what I say is true, which I think you’d do ’cause you don’t trust me. But that’s fine. *sniffles and looks away* I’m just gonna wait here for your thoughts when you’re back.
 

New Day, New Program

There are six accountants in my family. I took Engineering (I know, Math whiz!prepare to be mightily disappointed) because I wanted to be different from the rest of the family and that was the best course the school I wanted to go to was offering. I was a hairbreadth away from taking Accountancy and is now thinking I might as well have taken it for all the good Engineering gave me. Anyway, the fact that my sister, three of my cousins and an uncle are accountants and my aunt a CPA should’ve given me an idea to a software that I was tasked to ‘get to know’ (no more flowers this time!). Unfortunately, like the rest of things I expected from my aunt, I was extremely let down (I know, emotional baggage peeking). There was never a talk of any software they were using to make their lives easier, and thinking about it, I’m imagining them to still be using that little thing Chinese dudes used a long time ago to calculate and stuff…*snaps fingers*…Abacus!

Luckily, since I’m now employed at a job that constantly requires me to add something to my store of knowledge (once filled with useless facts), I had the chance to meet the newest form of abacus, and I don’t mean the calculator: Quickbooks.

It’s basically Accounting in sophomore year in high school only more complicated and a lot high tech to boot. Now I realize why my aunt hasn’t used this software. She runs away from technology much like Snape from shampoo. Ah, Severus Snape…

*smiles wistfully*

Alas, I digress.

Quickbooks has totally made things easier for accountants and even almost ignorant people like me. It has applications that help simplify transactions and records we keep when we have businesses.

Besides cool new words to add to my vocabulary like accrual-based accounting, cash-based accounting, equity, progress invoicing, and the like, I also learned how to set up Quickbooks. I know, I’m as slow as The White Queen on her sleigh when the snow melted in Narnia.

That’s one cool thing about Quickbooks, though. Upon setting up, it asks you questions that assist it in determining what you need in the business and how it can help you more. That way, it doesn’t exclude morons like me. There’s something called the Easy Step Interview where QB asks what type of business you have, whether you’re using sales receipts or invoices, which I learned are totally different things. It also has suggestions on some answers to some of the questions during the interview based on your business setup.

Anyway, to give a general idea of what quickbooks is, though, it’s a more advanced version of a ledger and more.

Soon as I learn more about this interesting little program, I’ll be right back here with you ’cause I’m all for information for everyone. Besides, a friend says the best way for me to retain knowledge and/or instructions is to write them again myself. She hates that I forget birthdays and stuff.

Ciao for now. Off to IM a friend who sells burgers and has problems with his inventory. He must not know about QB yet, I think.