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Although people like me have had hotmail email addresses for over ten years, it does not mean that using this address in the workplace is either credible or professional. I do not think that using a common, free email looks good on a resume to a top tier law firm. Nor does sending emails to prospective clients or even new social networking associates with an email that is littered with ads seem an approach that means that people will take you seriously. Using the email address provided to you by your Internet Service provider does not look much better (In Australia the ominous bigpond.com.au address prevails) and both of these have the disadvantage that the services could end at any time.

I have found a solution (I have not been paid for this) that will provide you with reliable, free, professional looking email for the price of going to a movie once a year. It also means that you can get your own name at your domain (andrew rather than and0ew8492 or similar that you will get at hotmail).

When you use a smiley or emoticon - do people really know what you are saying? There seem to be many problems in communication / conveying mesasges that arise because of the lack of consistency in the use of smilies and emoticons. I propose that there needs to be a standard usage across the board.

I have been suffering from serious computer problems, a heavy workload, cramming for exams and trying to keep the blog filled with unique and original content. John Chow reckons that his average posts take him ten minutes to write and although this is reflected in the quality of the content it is something that I am going to do until my exams are finished. I am going to put ideas that I would normally flesh out into a long post into a shorter one and invite comments. The best posts over this period I will then take the effort to re-write and encapsulate the ideas that are left in the comments.

Plugins extend and expand the functionality of WordPress. If you are hosting your own blog and want to have complete control over its appearance and functionality then plugins are for you.  They are generally very easy to install and what they will do make it easy for someone who can’t or don’t want to touch the code to create a site that really rocks.

The concept is very similar to plugins for applications like firefox, where you can download code that increase what they can do see The Top 50 Lightweight Firefox Add-Ons. Powerful plugins and extensions that will not kill your computer for information about other plugins that I find extremely useful.

I have noticed that it is hard to find what actual plugins people use on their blogs and how they actually look when they are installed.  Here is what I have currently installed on my blog and why I chose those plugins.  Note that currently the only code changes to Wordpress and my template that I have made, with the exception of plugins are just to implement the threaded comments (just overwriting a file) everything else is as a result of the theme that I am using and the configuration of the plugins I have installed.

In one sentence plugins let you do cool stuff that you can’t do with a default wordpress install or by changing the code yourself.

The Plugins below are in no particular order and I am using all of them..

If you are using something else you think I should try -  please post below, also consider subscribing to my RSS feed (either in your newsreader or via email) and share this with others.

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Firefox is an Open-Source Internet browser that is fast, easy to use and my favorite extremely customizable. I am someone who loves being in control, being able to change my browsing experience to be faster, easier to use, more secure and giving control what other people can observe about your activities is […]