A number of people have asked me how to go about creating a custom WordPress theme — should they create it from scratch? Modify an existing theme? Performancing.com has a great introduction to customizing WordPress and making your blog look how you want. While I didn’t follow it to make this site, I did use the same method of duplicating the default WP theme, then modifying it to suit my needs. Luckily, WordPress’ PHP template tags make editing much simpler by removing the majority of the necessary code and breaking each important bit of data into single tags. (When you’re done with that, check out part 2.)

(On an unrelated note, please forgive the lack of recent updates. Not too long ago, I finally got myself a full time job and have been rather busy with it. I’ll do my best to keep the tech coming!)

Now that my PowerBook is over two years old, I decided it was time to invest some money and extend its life another few years until Intel-based Mac laptops — iBooks or PowerBooks — are readily available (which may not be as long as previously thought). This is by no means a how-to for upgrading your own PowerBook, but simply a run down of what it took to get my own back up to speed. Feel free to comment about your own upgrading experiences.

My PowerBook is a stock 1.25 GHz 15″ Aluminum configuration, with the original 512 MB (2×256) RAM, 80 GB hard drive, and 2X SuperDrive. Two years ago, it was a killer machine and cost an absurd amount of money, but it’s nearing low-end by today’s standards. Such is life in the computer world.

What upgrades can be made to keep an aging PowerBook from gathering dust? By far the easiest upgrade is simply adding RAM to allow for more multi-tasking and memory intensive programs like Photoshop, Aperture, and other “pro” apps. To that end, I was able to obtain a single 1 GB stick of PC2700 memory, bumping the total installed RAM up to 1.25 GB. Unfortunately, I had to sacrifice a 256 MB stick to install the 1 GB, making the original decision to stick with two 256’s seem a bad one. At the time of purchase, though, upgrading to a single 512 MB module was expensive and didn’t increase capacity at all. Aluminum PowerBooks have an easily accessible RAM panel on the underside of the machine, allowing upgrades to be made with little effort.

Another reasonably affordable upgrade I decided to make was to swap out the SuperDrive for a newer, faster model. Having seen upgrades from MCE technologies advertised on MacNN a number of times, I decided to give them a shot, and purchased an 8X DVD±R/W DL “SuperDrive” from them. With it, DVD burning would be four times as fast, and double the capacity. After receiving the new drive, I discovered that while MCE offers a great piece of hardware at a reasonable price, their documentation is extremely weak. I only received a printed manual for installation into a Titanium PowerBook, which is older than mine.

Luckily, PBFixit offers great instructions on replacing various PowerBook and iBook components, complete with a guide for keeping all those tiny screws in order. Having never opened my PowerBook before, the upgrade took just over an hour. In addition to the tools listed by PBFixIt, you also might find some others useful: A dental pick, fine tweezers, a pair of hemostats, and a nylon pry tool or two. The hardest part of the upgrade was undoing the three clips just above the optical drive. (For reference, I was finally successful in removing the top of the PowerBook case by sliding it away from the screen to release the clips.) After unhooking the keyboard and trackpad ribbon cables, the top of the case can be pulled free. From there, it’s just a matter of moving the optical drive brackets to the new unit and dropping it in. Reassembling the PowerBook was very easy thanks to the PBFixIt guide. Here are a few pictures of the upgrade process:

   

Several other photos are available in my Flickr photoset, as well as the Gallery here.

I finally finished playing Half-Life 2 on the Xbox (as evidenced by the lack of updates around here), and it is outstanding. I’m not a gamer by any means, but I do enjoy a well-crafted piece of work when I find it. Though Half-Life 2 has been out in the Windows world for quite some time, the Xbox release is rather new and it’s obvious why the port took so long: Valve put a tremendous amount of work into making this one of the best Xbox titles to date. The level of detail is one that I’ve never seen before on the Xbox, with accurate physics, impressive lip-syncing, clever map design, and some of the best textures anywhere. Eye candy aside, the gameplay varies between charging through enemies, avoiding their AI, and solving puzzles — all of which help create an enjoyable gameplay experience. If you haven’t yet played Half-Life 2 on the Xbox, check it out. Even for a non-gamer like myself, it was a real treat to play.

Leave Me Here, Half Acre
by Hem

I thought I would try something different in my new Music section and name a favorite single of the week on my “New Music Thursdays.” For another twist this week, it’s actually two songs, as it was a tough call between them. Available on iTunes are two beautiful pieces by Hem, an artist I addmittedly hadn’t heard of before stumbling upon a thoughtfully titled “Sunday Sunrise” iMix. Leave Me Here and Half Acre remind me of the popular song Breathe Me from the Six Feet Under soundtrack. However, both Hem songs have a distinct Fiona Apple sounding female vocalist with a gorgeous piano and string backdrop, with the occasional flute to carry the song from verse to verse. Though not listed in the iMix mentioned, “Half Acre” and “Leave Me Here” definitely fit a no-rush Sunday sunrise setting — one of those mornings where you have nothing to do and plenty of time to do it.

Hear it on iTunes