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Andy Olmstead: Remembered

Sometimes Life is Just Not Fair

by David Zemens

Happy Holidays! My best wishes to everyone in this holiday season. May you and your families be happy, healthy and safe!

Although the post below is sad, and the link to which it refers you is even sadder, I thought it appropriate to republish it on Christmas day. When I re-read the story of Andy Olmstead I am saddened greatly. But reading Andy’s words always forces me to put life in perspective.

I think we all need to put things in perspective from time to time. I hope you agree.

The original post …

I read a lot of blogs. Web design blogs, political blogs, news blogs, graphic design blogs, blogs about blogs. You get the idea. It’s not very often I read a blog post that stops me in my tracks. Today I read one such blog post.

Andy Olmstead was a blogger. He was also a United States soldier serving in Iraq. Andy wrote wrote articles for a blog called Obsidian Wings.

Recognizing his own mortality, and the potential for an early death, Andy wrote his final blog post and left it in the hands of a trusted friend. Needless to say, it was only to be published in the event of his death.

It is with great sorrow that I offer the link to Andy’s final blog post. Andy was killed on January 3, 2008.

Politics aside, the world was a better place because Andy Olmstead lived in it. Iraq was a better place because Andy Olmstead served there. The world is a lesser place because Andy Olmstead is gone. My condolences to Andy’s wife, family and friends. It’s a sad day.

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December 25th, 2008 | This 'n That

WordPress Breadcrumb Script

by David Zemens

While searching the WordPress forums for the answer to another problem, I stumbled upon this script that places a breadcrumb navigation trail into your WordPress theme template.

It’s easy to use and works like a charm. It would have taken me hours and hours to figure out how to do this myself, so I am glad it was available to me without having to reinvent the wheel. I hope you can put it to use, too.

<div id="breadcrumbs">;
  <span>You are here: </span>
	<a href="<?php echo get_bloginfo('url'); ?>" title="">Home</a>
	  <?php
		$parent_id  = $post->post_parent;
		$breadcrumbs = array();
		while ($parent_id) {
		  $page = get_page($parent_id);
		  $breadcrumbs[] = '<a href="'.get_permalink($page->ID).'" title="">'.get_the_title($page->ID).</a>';
		  $parent_id  = $page->post_parent;
		}
		$breadcrumbs = array_reverse($breadcrumbs);
		foreach ($breadcrumbs as $crumb) echo ' » '.$crumb;
	  ?>
	 <span> » <?php the_title(); ?></span>
</div>

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December 18th, 2008 | WordPress

Lakeside Plumbing, Inc.

www.LakesidePlumb.com

by David Zemens

Project Complete: My most recent project went live yesterday. Lakeside Plumbing, Inc. is a Chicago area plumbing business that has been serving the north shore and northwest Chicago suburbs for decades. They decided that they wanted to establish a presence on the web. Lakeside Plumbing contacted Aardvark Web Works, a very highly regarded web services company located in suburban Chicago.

As part of the team of web developers who work with Aardvark, I was asked to work on the Lakeside Plumbing project. Working closely with both Aardvark Web Works and the owner of Lakeside Plumbing, I was able to craft a new website for their business that I am quite proud of.

Once again, I have utilized the WordPress platform as the backend of this site. Making some custom tweaks in WordPress allowed me to offer the client the ability to update their own website. Their two most critical needs were to post Employment Opportunities as well as to offer various Special Coupons that website visitor scan use for plumbing services. WordPress proved to be a good fit for this application.

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October 8th, 2008 | Portfolio, WordPress