Nine years ago we embarked on what is known as “The Big Trip”, a 30-day, cross-country odyssey that took us to Seattle and back. The Big Trip was built around two events that I was attending – National Bible Quiz Finals, which was being held in Cedar Rapids, Iowa that year, and the National Church Business Administrator’s Convention, which convened in Seattle.

I had the brilliant idea that it would be great fun to take the whole family along for a once-in-a-lifetime road trip. In the end, it actually was a brilliant idea. We began the journey on July 3, 2001 and returned to North Fort Myers on August 1. In between, we got caught in a monsoon at Turner Field, saw friends in Michigan, did our week in Iowa, traveled through the Badlands, froze at Old Faithful, experienced Montana, Wyoming, and eastern Washington, the rest of the gang saw the Seattle zoo and we all saw the Space Needle, celebrated Summer’s 5th birthday in Wyoming, endured Nebraska, and visited family in Missouri.

It was epic.

Tomorrow we begin The Big Trip 2, though this one will be less big and carry less passengers. Only Summer and Sawyer will accompany Trudi and I on this one. Once again, it is a journey based on the fact that I am attending National Bible Quiz Finals. This year it’s in Troy, Michigan.

When I can, I’ll be posting bits from our travels on my Tumblr account. That’s why the look of this page has changed – to include the Tumblrstream on the right side of the page. (See it?)

Time to load the van…

A little technogeekery for the non-technogeeks.

SarcasticMonkeys.com is a WordPress blog. That means that I use the WordPress software to create, post, and manage this website. The WordPress software is open-source and can be downloaded for free from WordPress.org.

DreamHost is my hosting provider. Not only do they host the domain – SarcasticMonkeys.com – they host all the sub-domains that I have created, including Shae.SarcasticMonkeys.com, TBQ.SarcasticMonkeys.com, and SarcasticMonkeys.com/Sammy.

As you can see, having a hosting provider provides me with more flexibility and control. There are also some sub-directories you can’t see in my account that I use to store different things. I have a couple of websites that I play with – but I’m the only one who knows they are there. (If you’ve found them, let me know!)

The disadvantage of this strategy is that I have to keep the software up-to-date. While DreamHost makes this very easy (the video at the top shows how it’s done), it is still another step I have to take.

The easier path is to use WordPress.com. One of the reasons I went to my own hosting provider was because I wanted my own domain name. This wasn’t possible through WordPress.com.

Now it is. And this makes WordPress.com much more attractive. It is also – in most cases – much less expensive. If I’m only using my hosting provider for one domain, it only costs $15/year through WordPress.com. That’s less than two months hosting with most hosting providers.

WordPress.com also has a lot of built-in features, including stats, that can only be done through plug-ins with WordPress.org software. Working with plug-ins can be very time consuming.

I have also used Blogger.com and all the Googleness that it has.

But if you are considering beginning your own website, I would recommend looking at WordPress.com.

Hey and howdy and thanks for stopping by. Most of you are probably here specifically to see today’s guest post from the fabulously funny Jon Acuff, author of Stuff Christians Like. So, without any further razzle dazzle, here’s my part of the 130-blog group effort…

The “Is that contestant on American Idol a Christian? Scorecard”

46. Each time after the judge says something negative, they immediately say, “I’ll pray for you” = + 2 points

To add up your score with over a 130 other ideas on this scorecard, visit stuffchristianslike.net.

(#47 is here.)

A few folks might be dropping by the blog in the next few days. Jon Acuff, creator of the Stuff Christians Like blog, and author of the book by the same name (get it on Amazon), is promoting his stuff and including regular and irregular bloggers like me while doing it.

His post tomorrow will link to a number of blogs, including this one. Each blog will have a piece of the whole.

It won’t be as confusing as I’m making it.

But that means there could be some new people here, poking around, looking for treats.

It will be like having Halloween in April.

I’m not doing too much to get ready, though I feel I should straighten the living room or something. Most will probably only come to the front door, read Jon’s contribution and move to the next blog.

But if you’ve made it down the page this far, welcome. Thanks for stopping by.