Bengfort.com

Blogs are great for sharing information with the entire world, expressing your opinion, or being published with ease. We use our blog slightly differently, however- our biggest use is to keep up with the family and have a space for Bengforts on the web. This means that there are times when we have stories to share with each other that we don’t necessarily want to be in the public domain. We have tried using email to communicate in the past, but this limits the discussion- replies might miss people or not be time synchronized. Wouldn’t it be great to have a blog type forum with comments that was private?

Well, with WordPress, you can in fact do this! Publishing posts as private means that you must be logged into the site to see the post and that the post has been published. In order to publish a private post- go to the “Add New” post screen in the site admin. Next to the text editor is a Publish widget (which contains the Publish button)- in this widget is the Visibility attribute of the post. Note, it probably says Public, which is the default. Click the Edit link, and simply change the post to Private!

Note the Visibility edit options

There is also a password protected option.  When you select this option you can add a password to the post, which is required to view the post, whether you are logged in or not. Anyone you give the password to can view the post (even non-registered users), and everyone can view that the post exists becasue they will be able to see the title. This option is great if you don’t want to make the post completely private, but allow more than just registered users to have access- however, you will have to email the password to everyone you want to read the post!

I’m hoping that with the use of private posts, you will feel more comfortable sharing information on our blog with the family. Some things to keep in mind: When adding a private post, make sure you tweet that you put the post up, or we will not know! Also, when you come to the site log on, or make sure you always remain logged on so you can see any private posts that are put up.

If you have any questions, I would be happy to answer them!

New email addresses! That’s right folks, come and get them- your new @bengfort.com emails! Feel that cold chill of fear at getting a new email address? Of course you did- and really you shouldn’t! Let me tell you why in today’s installment of Bengforts on the Web.

Do you have an ISP email address? ISP email addresses may not be around forever, relying on @comcast.net as your personal email could leave you without the ability to receive mail if say Comcast got bought by SBC or something like that. More importantly, a personalized email address is just the thing to impress everyone else.

Have a business email? Well same thing as the ISP email address- you might not work there for very much longer. But more importantly- you should only be using your work emails for work! Your employer has full access to all emails that you send and receive and the right to read through them any time they want- and why would you want to be sending personal emails when there is the possibility that you could send it to your entire office by accident!? Not only that, but you are restricted to the private policies of the company when it comes to email- you might not be able to make full use of the power of email.

Your email is your identity- you use it as a username on many websites. Folks you give your email to know more about you from your domain (having @bengfort.com makes you seem like a sophisticated and knowledgeable internet citizen). And because your email is your identity it can be attacked- why put yourself into a large group of targets with an email like @hotmail.com?

Have an @gmail.com account? Great! You have a secure account on a website that will ensure your data protection and give you access to many different applications including docs, chat, and calendar besides email. The Gmail web interface is one of the most well thought out, well designed interfaces of all email (better than Outlook). If you have a @gmail.com account then you have proved your internet saavy. So why switch to an @bengfort.com account?

@bengfort.comm email is provided by Google! Yay! The same interface, the same applications, the same data confidence will continue to be yours – all continuing to be free, but with the added benefit of an Internet identity that won’t be lost or broken! Basically, an @bengfort.com email is the best of all worlds. Not only that, but you have increased confidence because we own the @bengfort.com domain and can back all of our own stuff up!

But what about my old accounts? How do I move everything over? Asking these questions? Well you should- but the fact is because @bengfort.com is hosted by Google Apps, this is as simple as forwarding your old email account to the @bengfort.com account (or adding the new account to outlook) then passing on the new email address to all of your close contacts (let everyone else send to your old account, you’ll still get the emails in your @bengfort.com inbox), then just start using @bengfort.com for all your stuff! Done- no data loss, no switchover hangups!

And also- please ask me if you need help with all this stuff, I’m perfectly happy consulting to my family for free!

So head over to mail.bengfort.com and get started with your last email account you will ever need!

The new subway line opened! Non-Beijingers will probably fail to feel any excitement about it, rightly so, but for those who have been watching the development of Beijing’s new infrastructure, everyone can now let out the one word they have kept bottled up for the past two months -Finally! Originally scheduled to open in May, authorities have kept delaying the opening date, until it got to the point that no one knew when the subway line would open, not even the government spokesman! This past week, when an official was asked when the line would open, he said …before Monday! Maybe even Friday, or Saturday! He really had no idea.

The new subway line opened! Non-Beijingers will probably fail to feel any excitement about it, rightly so, but for those who have been watching the development of Beijing’s new infrastructure, everyone can now let out the one word they have kept bottled up for the past two months -Finally! Originally scheduled to open in May, authorities have kept delaying the opening date, until it got to the point that no one knew when the subway line would open, not even the government spokesman! This past week, when an official was asked when the line would open, he said …before Monday! Maybe even Friday, or Saturday! He really had no idea.

But fortunately, the subway opened this past Sunday. Andy and I celebrated the occasion by packing up our folding bikes with the intent of taking the subway all the way to the end of the line (about 24 km out) and then biking back (After our 70 km ride the previous day.. ugh! I need to get bike shorts!)

Unfortunately we encountered a little snag. The rules clearly state that no bicycles are allowed on the subway, which is completely sensical. However, we had our bikes folded in half, with the seat removed, and stuck in a bag. It looked exactly like a piece of baggage, which you ARE allowed to bring on the subway, if not for the simple reason that the subway is now connected to the Airport Express, with the hope that more people will use the metro to get to the airport instead of taxis or cars and thus contribute to improving the quality of Beijing’s air.

However, due to new security rules for the Olympics, everyone has to pass their bags through an X-Ray machine. Fine. But then, they discover it is a bike.

“Forbidden to take Bicycle on Subway” we were formally told in Chinese. Having already taken our bikes on the metro once before, we were told that the rule forbidding bicycles all of a sudden began yesterday. We then argue that even though it is a bicycle, it is folded up and in a bag. It should be considered the equivalent of a piece of luggage. However, after the X-Ray they know its a bike in there, not clothing, pirated dvds and bottles of baijiu, so they argue we can’t bring it on the subway. We argue back saying that if we are allowed to take this thing in a bag on an airplane and a train, we should be allowed to take it on the subway. I even say, “what if we were going to the airport and it was a piece of our luggage? We should be able to take all our belogings to the airport on the airport express. What if tourists to the Olympics bring their own bike and are coming from the airport. What do you say to them?” After this, we were told to wait a sec while they talked to a supervisor.

After waiting 5 minutes, standing by the X-Ray machine, the person comes back and tells us to go right in, without any further ado. Apparently they realized their irrationality. I love it when I (logic and reasoning) win.

I think I am nutrient deficient; the most telling signal is that my hair has become unprecedentedly thin, weak and brittle. I used to have nightmares in which I lose all my teeth, now I will probably have nightmares about losing all my hair!

I think I am nutrient deficient; the most telling signal is that my hair has become unprecedentedly thin, weak and brittle. I used to have nightmares in which I lose all my teeth, now I will probably have nightmares about losing all my hair!

I have noticed however, that for this past month, my diet has been conspicuously devoid of fresh fruits and vegetables, to an extreme degree. I had been eating a lot of rice and meat curries, noodles, a lot of Middle Eastern dishes (kebobs, couscous, and hummus with bread), and Chinese dishes that although have vegetables, don’t really seem to deliver on nutrient content due to the unhealthy amount of oil and MSG.

I have decided to fix this, and have been stockpiling on fresh fruits and veggies, and making dinners that are at least 60% fruit/veggie related. Hopefully that helps with my hair situation. Now hopefully my nightmares are limited to my shadow coming to life and strangling me to death (not just mine, but in a crazy dream I had last night, everyone’s shadow comes to life when direct sunlight creates the perfect silhouette, and they then try to strangle their “owners.” Once the human is dead, the shadows were free to assume an independent life. The only way to escape a shadow that has come to life is to run into the shade or a dark room. It was a very strange, graphic dream.)

*White Mans= Vitamins in Chinglish.

Two things on my mind this week:

1. Italy is great for your self-esteem
2. Tourist season in Rome is terrible!

As to the first thing, there’s really no better place than Italy to get a self-esteem boost. At least a few times a day I will meet someone, or even just walk by, who will say, “What a beautiful girl!” or something of the like. It doesn’t even matter who, it could be man, woman, old, young, rich, poor, everyone likes to compliment you! It’s a very nice and friendly place, but living here too long might go to your head…

As to the second, tourist season started recently here, with Easter and now the advent of warm weather. At first it was nice, we had a couple of stress-free weeks with beautiful sunshine and warmth, but then came a steady influx of tourists, crowding the buses, filling up the restaurants, and creating insanely long lines at places you’re used to just walking into. Things that used to be free have also starting charging for entry, and other places have increased their prices (yes, even the gelato!). The most ridiculous thing of all, I think, is that they started shutting down the main lines of public transportation, including the tram I take almost every day, at 8:30 instead of the normal 12 on weekdays. Why, with MORE people around, would they make public transportation less accessible? My roommate thinks it might be because they want tourists to start using taxis more, but I think it’s quite ridiculous. I didn’t realize how well I was living by studying abroad in a non-tourist time of year!