For widget-enabled themes only.

1. Add the Text widget to the sidebar of your choice.
   • Edit the Text widget.
   • Copy the iframe text provided by Google into the editing box. For example:

     • <iframe
       width="425" height="350"
       frameborder="0"
       scrolling="no"
       marginheight="0" marginwidth="0"
       src="http://maps.google.com/maps..."></iframe>
       <br /><small>
       <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps..."
       style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a>
       </small>

   • Click the Done button.
   • Click Save Changes in the widget area.
     • The iframe tag stays intact if you copy the code into a Text widget.
2. View Site to ensure you see what you expected.

Add any location map iframe tag to a Post or Page.

1. Copy the iframe code provided by Google.
2. Add New Page or Post.
   • Paste the iframe code into the editing box.
   • Click Save.
   • Click the HTML tab to view the code.
     • You should see the googlemaps tag genereated by WordPress. It replaces the code you copied into the box.
     • WordPress Support provides a visual tutorial.
   • Click Publish.
3. View the Post to ensure you see what you expected.

Make maps

Make your own annotated multimedia Google map

My bank says that someone is grabbing debit card numbers and pins electronically and making duplicate cards. Eeek! At least 4 other Washington Mutual customers had been hit this way today, according to the banker I talked with online.

I will have to wait here until my new card comes in the mail. The bank will reimburse me the amount I lost once I sign some paperwork.

I get annoyed when my card is declined because the bank won’t allow so many high cost transations in one day, but I’m appreciating it now–keeps the whole account from being drained.

Some Town near Pismo Beach.
We were looking for Chinese food and pulled up to a curb. Neither one of us noticed the sign post so close to the curb. As I was pulling away (having decided there was no Chinese food here), the bike’s back wheel caught the sign post and began to yank the bike off the rack with a loud scraping noise. I finally stopped (it took awhile as my brain was dull from hunger), stopped traffic, and got out to investigate. The bike seemed unharmed, though we have not ridden it yet; hopefully the frame is not bent. I secured it and decided to pull out. Maya, in her brilliance (hunger or not) decided she should watch the back, so she stood on the curb to direct me. Because I get befuddled with the steering and directions, I locked myself in with the post. I really wanted to take a picture, but the hood was sticking out into traffic; no time for photo ops. The back of the rig was 2 inches from the post nestled beside the bike tire. I had to inch up and back many times to get free of the post. Up the road two blocks was a wonderful Chinese Buffet! No harm done.

I-5, somewhere in LA
I had forgotten to lock the compartment that holds the 30-amp electrical cord, so naturally, the constant jiggling from the worn out freeway shook the door open and the cable loose into thin air. I knew that within a matter of minutes the whole 50 feet of cable could be out gashing car windshields. I had to stop. So I did on a 9-ft-wide shoulder. The traffic was slowed to about 20 MPH so no worries! Of course Maya was petrified and I wasn’t (I had taken my happy pill and did not worry). She was not sure I would stay alive once I left our haven. The door on her side would just allow me out (I haven’t gained too much weight on the trip), so I squeezed out, over the railing, and to the back of the rig. All the drivers (you know who you are) would not stop to let me into the lane to lock the door, except one angel (an RV driver, of course). I cussed a great deal while fighting with the little-lock-that-is-almost-good-for-nothing, and managed to complete the task without causing a wreck, suicide, or infraction.

Escondido, Wild Animal Park
We had just 3 hours in the park, but managed to keep the car lights brightly lit the entire time! Funny how the motor won’t turn over, when you do that. So two sets of angels came by after closing time in the dark to jump the rig. The first one did the trick and we safely traveled to another place to stay for the night.

We’ve been in Fresno for 7 days now. On Tuesday we learned that something inside the transmission in the RV broke loose, making a whole in the case and causing the fluid to leak out.

This leads me to these questions…Am I overtaxing the engine/gears? Does the cruise control overtax the transmission? Is this a factory defect (previous versions of this engine have had problems, according to forums I’ve read)? Or did that wacko guy at Candlestick RV Park shoot a hole in it (did I tell you that story)?

In any event, we have found a much nicer motel that takes pets. Apparenlty there is also wireless, though it refused to work for me. I’m in the office writing now, and checking in with students, hooked up via ethernet. And apparently they turn the heat on the hot tub at 5pm. I’m hoping they really will turn it up today. We expect to be here until Wednesday.

OK Back to work…

I learned a bit about towing rigs while watching my rig get hooked up for a 90-mile ride down the mountain. The tow truck has a hydrolic extension (the blue thing in the picture at the right) that is nested; two inside of one to make three sections. The wheels of the motorhome are secured onto an additional extention that forms a rectangle for the wheels to sit in. At least 2 sets of heavy straps are wrapped around the wheels and hooked to the extention. Duck tape adds a bit more protection where they are clamped.

Gears on the side of the tow raise and lower the RV to the heights needed to strap wheels and remove the drive shaft. The backup, break, and turn lights are operated by remote control via a strap-on set of lights. Cool–wireless goes tow. The driver has 10 gears and at least two sets of breaks to operate during the drive.

I also discovered that satellite connections are quite slow, regardless whether you paid the higher price for “business” access levels. Direcway in SW Oregon and NW California seems to be common. The speed is not worth the cost, however, if you must do a lot of work online.

I find that many RV parks use a third party for the service, which works for me, as it allows me to register, pay, and login from the comfort of my home, rather than go into the rec room at the office/building. However, the companies that run these services often have terrible sites and no way to get support. One exception is WiFiRV. Their service was excellent. Too bad the contracting RV Park was using Direcway to connect. Satellite hardware seems to defeat the purpose of high speed access via the third (or forth party, in this case–though at Richardson Grove in the Redwoods, you have little choice).

I’m at at Best Western in Fresno, while the transmission is being replaced. This chain works with SpeedLinks, which has excllelnt support out of Pheonix (I was on the phone with them for an hour). When hooked up in the motel office with ethernet the connection is very fast and reliable. However, the motel boasts their wireless access. No amount of fiddling has allowed me to access the internet wirelessly, however. I’m using an Apple iBook, which receives a very strong signal, but will not connect to the interent. Repeated attemps to reconfigure my system to fit theirs has not worked. And apparently they’ve reset their equipment twice for me, with no change. Does their system ignore Macs?

Now I’ve had to sign up for a local S2S account because none of those three options are available at this park. Ughhh.

Time to cancel Comcast in Corvallis and save some money. I’m checking into the Mobile Kit from Verizon to go with my phone. I’ll see how that works.