Snow Leopard Needed

To really sync Exchange (Email, Contacts and Calendar) with Mac OS computers we need them to be running Snow Leopard i.e. Mac OS 10.6.x  Cost of the 10.6 upgrade is $29 if you were at 10.5.  Not sure if it is more if your OS X install is too old.

Once that is installed much like iPhone/iPod Touch OS 3.x it just works like magic.

Signage

Finally was able to get my head back around to the Easter Signage.  Designed a sign myself as time was short and the graphic design firm I was talking to may not have been even able to slot us any longer in time to make a deadline for Good Friday.  We ordered an A-Frame/Sandwich board/Standee and an extra print to go into the case & over the current sign letterboard/felt.

We still need a temporary 4x8 pole pocketed banner for the front area with general church info to be there temporarily as we try and raise funds for the new permanent sign.

I had to deep six the other more ambitious Easter plans for time and money.  Saving those ideas for the next round.

A-FRAME FINAL COST for purchase of A-Frame and 3 - 24"x36" prints was: $350 including $135 of that being for the A-Frame itself and $80/for signs when done on a longer lead time.  The A-Frame is reusable we can either create a  standard design with a "blank area in the middle" that we can then print and post or run entirely new signs from time to time.

YARD SIGNS for weekend post/take down:

Yard signs & wire stake
(25)   $30.78 ea. (plus tax)
(50)   $22.80 ea. (plus tax)
(100) $15.75 ea. (plus tax)


TEMP BANNER/SIGN -- to sink the cement boots, buy the pipes and print a 4' wide by 8' double sided banner with pole pockets is 776.80.  Replacement banners would be $480+tax and we could run them as needed after the permanent sign is made and installed.


Temporary Banner & poles
$ 603.00   (1)ea. 4'x8' banner & poles
    58.80    tax
  115.00    Install labor
$ 776.80

Fellowship One

Still trying to get that discussion moved to contract.  I hope to connect to the sales director as I don't want to have to pay an arm and a leg of "implementation" to get the Standard Plus level vs. Growth Plus.  Standard Plus has some additional features we might not use out of the box -- but would/should upgrade too in 90-180 days.

We'll see how they roll.

Configuration Gyrations on WP Mu

So it has taken the better part of two days to get things on the server straightened out.  The original install was quick but flawed and we needed the tech support folks at the hosting service to really understand the problem/s.

By the end of the day today they had gotten it 90% of the way there and then after I was busy tweaking -- some plug-in busted and is causing a minor issue.  I need c-panel access to the server as my only way to do anything is through the WP Mu Admin side -- and both to edit bad *.php files and also to manually upload and troubleshoot some themes and plug-ins.

Went ahead and had to purchase access to MP Mu Dev site for 3 months/$159 which gave me access to several new pay plug-ins one of which we really needed to get the "Blog Network" side of things running. They also offer tech support and advice live and on forums in addition to the plug-ins and templates.

I also went ahead and spent $65 to license the "Grace" template as the starting point of St. A's site.  It is traditional but it seems to fit closest to the aesthetics and the functionality we are looking for in a template.  It should do until we get a real design done by a designer.

So there are 4 unresolved issues in with the Alchemy tech support and hopefully those will be solved ASAP tomorrow so I can get Grace installed and I can get working on getting content and information into and organized on the new site.

Another 8x8 issue -- Outbound Caller ID

If we want all outbound calls to show the same caller ID it takes 5 days for that change -- option hidden under Account Info.  Otherwise it will show the name associated with an extension.

Phone number was ported, last minute fixes to autoattendant

So we went with a very minimal message to start with separating the individual boxes.  When Fr. Williams returns we need to go through the matrix I setup and decide what the rules are.  However, it is functional now with very few options.  Had to go back and add a hidden key for getting to VM remotely.  I also had to find the "if no button is pressed" forward to which is at the bottom of the list of Press X in the autoattendant configuration and looks identical to the number press options - just at the bottom of the list.

I had to go in to record a temporary message for Fr. Williams as he is out of town.

Spent part of the day dealing with voicemail / autoattendants

I helped configure a rudimentary autoattendant setup so that when AT&T releases the church's main line people won't go into thin air.  I wrote a more complex set of behaviors/logic but need the Rector around to work through the logic/steps.

I also had to be in the office to answer the verification calls for the broadcast voice mail providers so it shows the proper office number in the caller id.