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About

About the Website

Life is a Prayer is the culmination of about eight years of work on more than eight different websites. Originally, I (Jeff Geerling) had the idea of making a simple page where he could put pictures up of family members to share with them, and maybe a little personal info (such as a resumé). This was back in the days of Netscape Navigator 3.0 and Claris Home Page.

Over the years, I started working on some more profitable ventures, including some websites for private small and large businesses, and my own mini web-empire had begun to blossom. There was so much growth in the amount of 'web stuff' going on around my senior year of high school that I had to axe three of the sites I was maintaining. After joining Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, I had less and less time to manage the websites, so it was a long-term goal to consolidate my remaining five websites into one.

Now, instead of having 'Jeff's Computer Support,' 'Matthew 12:37,' Jeff's Mac Support Site,' 'Jeff's Seminary Website,' JJJCL - The Latin Supersite,' and a few other pages scattered about here and there, all the websites are united under one banner—Life is a Prayer.com.

I can't talk about this website without mentioning the help I received from A List Apart (which was invaluable while slowly porting everything on this site over to an enitrely CSS-based design). With the power of the semantic web, CSS, XHTML, and related technologies, I'm able to control the look and style of my site with ease unheard of in my early days of web development (ca. 1996).

The website was converted to use the Drupal Content Management System after many years of being a plain-vanilla HTML website. The site uses many modules for extensibility and image/content organization and management, and runs on a server at Hot Drupal.

About the Author

Jeff GeerlingI am a computing and media consultant, living in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis, Missouri. I have been working on many different websites over the past few years (including Kenrick-Glennon Seminary's website and Life is a Prayer.com), and decided to begin a blog in my first year of studies (in 2004) at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary which I still maintain today. In 2009, I started Midwestern Mac, LLC, a company dedicated to web design, Mac support, photography, and graphic design. I also set up the LOLSaints.com site and podcast, as well as Open Source Catholic, a site for Catholics sharing their web and technology solutions.

I currently work full-time with the Archdiocese of Saint Louis in the Office of Communications, as well as the Catholic Youth Apostolate, and am working to increase the Church's ability to communicate using new methods of social interaction—online, and in the 'real world.'

As of February 2010, I am engaged to a beautiful woman, Natalie, whom I intend to marry this coming October. You can read about our 'engaging' story, and you will soon be able to read about my experiences on the road to marriage (and beyond) on my blog.

I love discussing faith, politics, religion, technology and philosophy on my blog and with others, and I try to glorify God in all my activities. I am involved in many different Pro-Life activities, and try to help save the lives of those who are most neglected in American society—the unborn, the elderly and the handicapped.

I have used both Macs and Windows PCs extensively, but am staunchly in favor of using the Mac as my main platform. I've only had one or two small problems with any of the Macs I've owned, and I can count on one hand the number of times the Mac I'm currently using has locked up in the past three years (without ever reinstalling the system!).

One of my other passions, photography, has grown from an enjoyable hobby to a passion in the past few years. I currently shoot with a Nikon D90 (main body) and D40 (backup body) SLR, and have used many different Point and Shoot cameras (and a film SLR) before. You'll notice there's a whole 'Pictures' section on this site—with few exceptions, I shot all the pictures in that section, and if you'd ever like to use one for something or another, please ask (I also have a bunch of photos on Flickr). I have learned a lot at Strobist, and I suggest you visit the Strobist site and forums if you wish to improve your photography by learning how to light.

I pray daily for an increase in vocations to the priesthood, and remember fondly the five years I spent in formation for the Catholic priesthood. I ask that you pray for all seminarians and priests, as well as for those discerning a vocation to the religious life or to married life.

-Jeff Geerling, December 2008
(email Jeff Geerling)
(my Google profile)

Other Websites Designed by Jeff Geerling