The Long Cut will be [well, has already been] on hiatus for a little while. Busy busy busy. Bear with me.
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48 posts categorized "Blogging"
Is Your Blog Smarter Than a 5th Grader?
Wha? That can't be right. I mean, I write plenty of intelligent posts - like that one about the... um, or last month when I... or how about when I first started blogging and I had that one that...
Huh.
Ah, screw it, let's just watch this:
Bored Construction Workers Equal Fun - Watch more free videos
[Blog Readability Test via Idle Musings, which, despite being written for geniuses, I still manage to comprehend sometimes. Very cool (at least to the elementary school set) video via the Hardware Aisle.]
Running Behind
I can't seem to catch up on anything since coming back from Florida, so if you are one of the two folks who tagged me for a meme (the same meme, in fact) whilst I was away, all I can say is that I'm still working on it.
I don't have much time to write a post, but - lucky for you - I do have enough time to post my official photos from the Broad Street Run [big thanks to Shore Turtle, whom I forget to tell beforehand that I was doing the race, for showing me how to somewhat-shadily download these proofs from the website].
I don't know about you, but I find that I run much faster when I'm being chased by a muscle-bound woman. I'm not sure if I'm giving the thumbs up in this photo (which was taken around Mile 9) or if I'm saying, "I got your Broad Street right here."
This is me at the finish line, not looking too shabby. I'm not sure the guy in front of me realized that "finish line" is another way of saying, "you can stop running now." Dude looks like he wants to do another ten.
Cephalalgia, Gorgonzola, Miscellania
A few bullet points while I try to figure out how one of the station wagon's strut springs could just snap in half like that, and how much it's going to cost me to replace it.
The Headachy One is back! As usual, she's not very happy with me.- Check out this blog post from Philly's premier cheesemongers and try to guess who they're talking about. That's a lot of cheese.
- Someone finally recognized the
enormityvastness of my musical knowledge, took a chance on a disc I recommended, and - lucky for me (and her!) - actually liked it! I only skimmed the post, but I'm pretty sure that the writer refers to me as "the Greatest." That sounds about right. - Everybody got their first-day-of-Spring free iced coffee yesterday, right? No? How about your first-day-of-Spring free
wooderItalian ice? Oh. Perhaps next time I should mention these offers before they're over.
I'd say "Happy Spring," but that would just remind me of that damn broken strut.
Headline Choose
I was all set to do that end-of-year blogger thing where you post the first sentence of the first post of each month for the past year [wha?] like I did last year, but I've decided not to. Turns out, most of my first sentences suck. I spend way too much time explaining the purpose of my posts, and that's no fun.
But I do think I'm pretty good at writing post titles. In fact, most of the time the title is the best part of my posts, which makes sense since I usually end up spending more time trying to think of a title than writing the actual post (ironically, I couldn't think of a very good title for this post).
And so, here are what I consider my greatest post titles from the past year:
- Well, Sometimes - If I'm Real Quiet - I Can Sneak Up On Your Mom [One of many "kids say the darndest things" stories.]
- Warren Beatty - On The Other Hand - Couldn't Sink A Three If His Life Depended On It [What's the deal with those Masons?]
- Yeah, "He Is Risen" And All, But My Kids Let Me Sleep In Until 7:10 This Morning, And That's Pretty Awesome, Too [The story of an Easter miracle.]
- And You Can Keep Your Dr. Jacques Bailly, We've Got Alex Trebek At Our Bee. That's Right, A-L-E-X-T-R-... T-R-... Uh... T-R-... Um, Could You Repeat The Word Again? Mm-hmm. Huh. Could You Use It In A Sentence? [Don't try to out-geek geographers.]
- You Can Keep Your Shat On [Four beautiful letters, one lousy bird.]
- And The 3rd Baron Milverton Will Be Named "Arthur Fraser Frederick Arthur Richard Richard Richards." But Like His Father And His Father's Father Before Him, He'll Simply Be Known As "Dick." [My personal favorite.]
- To Understand Clearly One Has To Have Just One Eye. Wiki Has Two. [The sound of one blogger laughing.]
- The Part Of "Crazed Fan" Will Be Played By Mark, The Role Of "Unsuspecting Rock Star" Will Be Played By Graham Parker [My love of pub rock can be downright scary.]
- She's A Canadian, She's A Comedienne, She's A Camanadienne [Hey! I made up a word!]
- Why, Back In My Day, We Had To... Aw, Who Am I Kidding, We Never Had To Carry That Much Crap To School [Just don't tell the boy.]
- Miles Laydownish [Lie in the place where you live.]
- I'm Not As Think As You Overqualified I Am [...or something.]
- Better Prelate Than Never [It's alright, the pope didn't get it either.]
- Some Folks Are So Smart That They Can Play Chess Using 96 Pieces That Move 68 Different Ways. I, On The Other Hand, Like To Make Horsey Sounds Whenever I Move My Knights. [It's funny 'cause it's true.]
- How About Worsterest? Is That A Word? [Hey! I invented another word!]
I don't know, they seemed funnier when I wrote them. They'll be even better next year, I promise.
[I have no idea where the idea for this title came from. No. Idea.]
[That image up there is real, it's on Wiki's entry for the word "headline." Looks like NYC got the last laugh.]
Zero Population
Okay, I admit I wasn't totally thrilled with how this month's Long Cut header turned out. Here's what it looked like, just in case you've already forgotten:
Not one of my finer efforts. I think it would have looked better if the "Manville" sign had a more picturesque setting but - as any thirteen-year-old boy can tell you - the road to Manville isn't pretty.
Yeah, so I wasn't that crazy about it, but my niece, she hated it. Boy oh boy. Hated it so much that she made me an new one. Turns out she didn't take the picture in it, but she did add some cool graphics and I do so enjoy looking up at buildings.
So, because I'm such a nice uncle [shut up, I am so] - as well as a wonderful Godfather to her [I said shut up!] - and since I'm feeling generous, I'm sporting a guest header this weekend. But this is a one time thing, and it's just for this weekend - so nobody else better get any ideas. Make the header look too nice and next thing you know you'll start expecting quality writing as well. Well, it ain't going to happen - Monday morning, it's right back to the ugly.
Update (12/18/06): If you're late to this post, you missed a pretty nice looking header. Here's what it looked like:
Mr. Bloggs Takes A Vacation
Returning from a whole week without any blog reading and - no offense to my fellow bloggers - I didn't miss it at all. There were even a few times when the missus picked up a stray wireless connection, and I still didn't go online. Not even tempted.
Now I'm trying to slowly ease back into the habit, but it isn't easy with close to 1000 posts queued up in my Bloglines account. And of course I'll probably end up reading every one of them. Just when I thought that I was out, they pull me back in.
Two other things I successfully avoided while downtheshore with the family: depressing national politics (though I did follow the whole Jersey budget shutdown story) and even-more-depressing Phillies scores.
Great vacation - way too short. Ran some, biked more, walked even more. Read books, watched dvds, played skeeball, ate too much, slept in.
More later.
Having Never Been West Of The Mississippi, I'll Just Have To Assume That This Joke Is Funny Because It's True
I like how these guys think - if you're going to send out TrackBack spam, you should at least make it funny (or try to anyway).
I'll still delete it, but at least I get something for my troubles.
And the title of this post won't be true for long - I just booked my flight out to Sandy Eggo for a conference in August. Woo-Hoo!
Oops, I what I meant to say is, boo-hoo! It's not going to be any fun without the missus and kids there with me. I doubt I'll enjoy myself at all that week.
(woo-hoo!)
And Even Then... Ehhhhh, Not So Much
The only picture taken while up at Rutgers last week.
Anti (Blog) Establishment
Supa links to the New York magazine's "Blog Establishment" issue, featuring articles with titles like "Blogs to Riches" and "Why B-list Blogs Can Make It, Too." Of the six blog-related articles that are posted on their site, none of them acknowledge that most bloggers aren't out to make a buck. Every article seemed to equate success with income.
While I wouldn't mind getting paid to do this (just like I wouldn't mind winning the lottery), I think most of the bloggers I read see their blog as I see mine - just another way to have a conversation. Every once in a while I'll see a "13 Steps to Successful Blogging" article. I'm looking for tips on improving my banner or better ways to add links, but all these articles want to talk about is bringing in the income. Attracting the A-listers. Specializing in one topic.
I find myself most attracted to "kitchen sink" type blogs like my own. One day it's movies, the next it's music, the next it's something cute the kid said (followed by a week on coaching midget-league basketball). That's life, and that's how my conversations with friends and family go. I hate when I get trapped always talking about music with one guy at work - I wrack my brain trying to think of other things to say to this guy.
I realize there's a place for specialty blogs - I hit plenty of politics- and music-only sites every day - but I don't feel as though I'm having a conversation with these blogs like I do with the more personal ones. Even if I only lurk, I still feel part of that writer's community. Some of these more personal blogs I hit are (relatively) huge and some are tiny, but I still seem to enjoy them all more than the "successful" specialty blogs.
I also think it's a shame that, by concentrating only on the money-making (but often poorly written) blogs, New York magazine failed to recognize some of the brilliant writing that's out there on some less "successful" blogs (not that I'm including my own blog in that group, believe me). The number-one reason I read so many so-called "Mommy Blogs" is because so many of their authors are excellent writers.
I don't know quite what my point is, other than the fact that I'm not going to start judging my blog's "success" on ad revenue or number of hits (though everyone loves hits), and I think most bloggers feel the same way. I'll see this blog as successful as long I enjoy writing it and people enjoy reading it. Some magazine needs to do an article on that.
Greatest Hits
Check out what band just popped up on my Sirius player:
I'm guessing this is why I get so many hits from google.co.uk.
And all this time I thought the British just had a greater appreciation of witty post titles.
Clean Up In Column 2
I don't think there's anything worse in blogging than screwing up your post title.
The first word of your post title.
The first word of your post title when the post is not much more than an excuse to use a funny (to you at least) post title.
Ugh.
Interjections (Hey!) Show Excitement (Yow!) Or Emotion (Ouch!)
Hurray! My StatCounter passed the 30,000 visitor mark yesterday!
Aw! My camera stopped working yesterday!
The Honest Type(Pad)
Even though I don't watch too much TV these days (other than sports and America's Test Kitchen), I still seem to filter everything through television moments. An email I got from TypePad (my blog host) the other day got me thinking about two obscure scenes.
I remember an episode of Night Court where Max, the court clerk, and his wife Quon Lee were worrying about the restaurant they had just opened that the new-to-America and naive Quon Lee was running. The restaurant wasn't making any money, they were going broke, and they were discussing how all of their marketing gimmicks were disasters, especially "Make Your Own Change Night." I still think that was the funniest line ever on what was a pretty funny show.
Then there was the episode of Taxi where Reverend Jim accidentally burns down Louie's apartment and Jim's wealthy father offers Louie a blank check for the damages. Louie spends about ten minutes trying to figure out just the exact amount for the check - not too low, but not so high that Jim's dad rescinds his offer. Louie finally settles on about $30,000 (it was something like thirty..... one..... thousand..... four.... no, three........ hundred..... aaaaaaand..... twenty.... thirty, thirty!... six.... dollars.......... and........ EIGHTEEN CENTS!). He's all proud of himself until he finds out that Jim's dad was happy he didn't have to pay out $200,000 like he expected to.
So, anyway, I was thinking about those classic TV moments because TypePad has made an offer to compensate their users for some recent glitches. I've had trouble posting, there's been trouble with visitors leaving comments, and even times when The Long Cut was completely off-line (yeah, I know, that's not always such a bad thing).
So TypePad emails an apology and an offer - 15 free days added on to your service. Or 30 days free if "performance issues made it very difficult" to use their service. Or how about 45 free days free if performance issues made the TypePad service "unacceptable for most of the month." Or, of course, if you weren't affected to the point of frustration you could just say "no thanks" and take no free days. Whatever the choice, it's completely up to the customer.
It's "make your own change night" all over again. Except I feel more like Louie De Palma trying to figure out just what I can get away with. The 15 day offer is the default, and that alone is pretty nice of them. 45 free days would be really cool, but I can't say that service was "unacceptable" to me. As bad as it was it was still better service than Blogger ever provided.
But if they want me to be honest, than I think I should get 30 days free. The performance did make it tough for me to post. I usually get one shot to get a post in and I'm committed to writing something daily. I can't have problems getting into my account at 11:30pm if still haven't put up my new post yet.
So I'm asking for the 30 days. Mac and Quon Lee would be proud of my honesty. Louie De Palma would probably just see me as a sucker.
Update (10:17pm, 11/16/05): I've had to correct "Image Not Available" errors on this post twice already today. This crap keeps up and I will be asking for the 45 day compensation.
Roman Typo
While I appreciate the great response I've gotten to my Favorite Photo of the Week XXXXII post, I wish someone had discreetly informed me that 42 in roman numerals isn't XXXXII, it's XLII. Duh.
I've worked on Independence Mall for the last dozen years, so I'm blaming Independence Hall - whose clock face has IIII for 4 o' clock instead of the correct IV - for my mistake.
Damn Founding Fathers, always screwing up my blog.
Pass The Linkie On The Left Hand Side
Okay, after snide comments from Howard and Albert, I have returned my sidebar to its rightful place on the left side. I really didn't like it on the right either.
Let's face it, I'm a left-wing kind of guy (I'm such a leftist I'm even left handed!).
Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love
More timely bullet points:
- Big week for Springsteen news (and an excuse for even more bullets!):
- It was thirty years ago today that Bruce fronted both Newsweek and Time.
- A 30th Anniversary edition of Born to Run (which was the reason for Springsteen being on the cover of Newsweek and Time thirty years ago) is coming out next month. Three discs with plenty of never-before-released goodies, thus forcing all Bruce completists into replacing their perfectly good Born to Run CD (which had replaced their pretty good Born to Run cassette, which replaced their horribly scratched-up Born to Run album).
- Sirius satellite radio has announced a 24/7 all-Bruce station on their network. Ehhhh... that's kind of stalker-like creepy, but I would still have it as a pre-set if I could actually afford satellite radio (do satellite radio receivers even have presets?).
TypePad, the blogging service I use, has been annoyingly buggy lately. Not Blogger-level annoying, but annoying nonetheless. From what they're saying on the company's own blog, it sounds like growing pains are the cause of the recent glitches. Many more glitches and TypePad won't have to worry about the problems caused by being too popular, WordPress will (not that I'm threatening to leave TypePad, who could ever leave a cute couple of kids like Mena and Ben?).
- A big running-related pet peeve of mine (right up there with nipple rub) is when a race doesn't post their results online. A lot of times I need to leave right after a race and can't wait around to find out my finishing time. This past Sunday was just like that - the missus needed me home quickly after my 10-miler so she could get the eight-year-old to choir practice, and on top of that I was missing the some of the Eagles game. So I rush home, find out that there won't be any online results, and grumble about not knowing my results. I did get to see almost all of the second half of the football game, though. Yesterday I come home from work to a package from the race sponsors - a medal for third place in my age group! That's my second medal in a month (and only my third ever, all for the same thing - 3rd in age group). I still don't know my official time, though.
- It's official now - my World Series pick was right. I ended up going 5-2 in my post-season predictions. Not bad. [Long Cut commenter (and big sister) Donna reminded us of another reason to root against the Astros: Dubya's folks - the people who are to most to blame for his train wreck of a presidency - are season ticket holders and are frequently shown on the ballpark's big video screen (sometimes even seen kissing - bleehh).]
- Some links I've been meaning to write about:
- 80’s Rock Concerts (via Howard) - Some blogger is posting scans of his concert ticket stubs from the 80's. Now I'm going to have to go up into the attic and see if I kept some of mine.
- Badmash Short Bush-bashing skit from Andy Dick. Yes, that Andy Dick. He's is back and it's funny Andy, not freaky Andy (though, like most things Andy Dick does, the joke goes on a bit too long).
- The top 40 magazine covers of the past 40 year - I'm not too sure about some of them belonging here, but still pretty interesting to see.
- Families of Prisoners (via Blinq) This is a great idea - families of prisoners who are sick of having prison visiting rooms as the backdrop to all their family pictures can have non-correctional services settings photo-shopped in. Why stop at prisoners? With Christmas family newsletter season approaching, what family couldn't benefit from more exotic family photos?
- Building on Paige's post about musical artists she feels are a tad over-rated (though I don't agree with her hating on Sufjan Stevens): I don't get what people love so much about Mike Doughty. Then again I didn't much care for his old band, Soul Coughing, much either. Somebody enlighten me.
- I'll end all these bullets with with a shocking, SHOCKING, headline: Exxon Mobil, Shell Post Record Profits. Who'da thunk it?
Now, who's going to be the first to tell me where I stole the title of this post from?
Hey, Bert
TypePad, the blogging service I use, always has interesting "featured blogs" on their homepage. Shortly after Katrina they choose to feature eight blogs related to the concerns of the Gulf Coast. For example, Ernie the Attorney is a lawyer from Louisiana who has been relocated to the higher ground of Houston, and Journey To Healing promises "support for survivors of hurricane Katrina."
Unlike some of my posts that point out other blogs, I'm not writing to highlight these blogs (though they may be very good, I haven't had a chance to really check them out). No, the whole point of this post is to complain that every time I log into TypePad and see Ernie the Attorney sitting there next to Journey to Healing, all I see is "Journey To Ernie."
And it drives me absolutely batty.
Parents of young-uns will understand where I'm coming from.
Comics Trip
It's late, and it's the end of a day where I tried to squeeze every last ounce of fun out of summer - I took the boys out to the pool one last time, had a barbecue, and went to the Phillies game with my brother. Even stopped at Pat's Steaks in South Philly for some late night fries.
And yet, despite all of today's activities, I really don't have much to blog about tonight (it might have helped if the Phillies had actually won), so I'll just point you to one of my new favorite blogs, The Comics Curmudgeon. My brother and I have been known to take the comics page a little too seriously (we are, perhaps, the only two people left in the world to care about what happens to Funky Winkerbean), but the Curmudgeon, he raises comics dissertation to an art form.
That's Right, Einstein
I've got to thank Karen for the link to this site.
And I have to relive my favorite Einstein-related bit of humor (from The Kids In The Hall):
[Dave is in the middle of painting a front porch and Kevin walks up. You only see his body but not who it is.]
Kevin: So, you're doing a little painting.
Dave: That's right Einstein. How'd ya guess? I mean, I was trying so hard to hide it. Huh Einstein?
[Kevin's face is shown and we see that he is really Einstein.]
Kevin: Listen, not everything that comes out of my mouth is the theory of relativity. So can the sarcasm.
Dave: Sorry, did I hurt your genius feelings?
[Kevin starts to leave and reassure himself.]
Kevin: Walk away, walk away... you're the genius, he's a painter... you're clearly the winner here. [etc.]
Wireless-less
This post is to prove that my blog really hasn't become all meme all the time.
My blogging (and blog reading) has become several hampered by the fact that my laptop's wireless network has not worked for the last three days. So I can't write after the missus and the kids are asleep like I prefer to do. Instead I have to do it when I find the time, and I haven't been finding much time around here lately - not even enough time to work on fixing the wireless problem.
Two things I've been meaning to write about, both of which would probably have benefited from being written closer to midnight:
His Cup Creepith Over: It took me almost 37 years before I purchased my first athletic cup, and now, a week later, my seven-year old got his first. The back-up catcher on his our team broke his hand and they need a replacement and the number one requirement to being a catcher is owning a cup. Since he, like his Pop, has an overwhelming fear of a baseball coming at him, there's little chance of the seven-year old becoming the back-up. But he wanted the cup and after seeing how some of these pitchers throw I feel better with my boy protecting his boys.
The thing is, when he's wearing it he rarely stops messing with it. And if he's not messing with it he's talking about it. He did get to warm up the pitcher the other night (after bugging the manager for most of the game). The pitcher threw a total of two balls that the team's newest warm-up "catcher" let go right by him, but he (the seven-year old, not the pitcher) was satified.
Penthouse Sweet: The other thing was the getaway overnight trip the missus and I took last weekend. Our favorite niece (well, she is now!) offered to watch the kids overnight, so the missus and I ran as fast as we could to the Warwick Hotel just off beautiful Rittenhouse Square in Philly. Despite rainy weather and an off-and-on belly ache for the missus, we enjoyed ourselves. It was sooooooo relaxing. And way tooooooo short. Our (very budget conscious) room was on the 21st floor. When we got in the elevator, the numbers only went up to 20. After that was "PH." Penthouse? Nah. But we pressed it, and sure enough we were in the penthouse. Just not a penthouse suite. A little room between the penthouse suites, but we liked it. It was especially fun watching the many double-takes when other guests would see us press the penthouse button in the elevator - especially all the high-priced lawyers staying there (on the, uggh, common-folk floors) for a Temple Law School Alumni weekend!
Here's the view from our penthouse window (photo courtesy of the missus):
We now return you to your memes, already in progress.
Friendly
Happy St. Pat’s Day (what’s left of it). It was kind of an anti-climatic holiday for this Mick (technically half-Mick). The missus and kids are all suffering through various sicknesses, and all three are sporting fevers. Their appetites weren’t very strong, so for an Irish meal I ended up opening a can of Trader Joe’s Beef Stew for dinner as a substitute for Irish Stew. I didn’t even have a stout in the house, so I had to settle for a pale ale (which I did not dye green – how in the world can anyone who claims to love beer do that?). I did talk the boys into making some lemon pudding and dying it green. Nasty looking stuff. Kind of neon-ish. Had two servings.
I wanted to post about last night’s meetup for the Philly bloggers. About twelve of us met-up at Independence Brew Pub in the Reading Terminal Headhouse. I’m pretty sure everyone had a great time. It was cool to finally put faces to names (except for Scott from Blankbaby, who’s the only one amongst us brave enough to post his likeness on his blog – so we already knew what he looked like). Great beer – IBP’s Oatmeal Stout was like a meal, and so fresh tasting. Great conversation - everyone started in like they already knew each other which, thanks to the blogs, they really already did. A lot of great ideas and conversations flying around the table.
I even got to not only see Dragonballyee’s $$$ camera, but look through the viewfinder. I was only kidding when I told him I was more interested in meeting his camera than meeting him (well, mostly kidding). I used to think that if I had a camera like his I could take great pictures like him, but after seeing all the knobs and buttons I doubt I’d even know how to turn the camera on.
The only bad part of the whole night was when I got home I realized that I didn’t chip in for the fries. Next month I’ll pay double, I promise. The funniest part of the night may have been when the barmaid asked me what we were meeting about:
Me: Blogging.
Her: [Vacant Stare]
Me: Blogs?
Her: [Blink]
Me: Weblogs?
Her: [Blink, blink]
Me:Uh...Web stuff?
Her: Oh. [Slowly backs away].
Thanks to Karl (the brains behind the Philly Future site), Scott, and everyone else who had a hand in organizing this get-together. Looking forward to the next one.
[The above photo is from the Commodore Barry statue behind Independence Hall. The image has been heavily Photoshop’d to bring out the Irish in it.]
Short Shrift
1. I find it funny that on the cover of its "Best Places to Live" issue, Philadelphia Magazine puts a McMansion so lacking of any homeyness that I would never want to live in it. Unless, of course, someone wanted to buy it for me. I'd be cool with that (then I could just turn around and sell it).
2. Even Michael Jackson says, "that's just too weird": State teacher commission probes wound-licking practice by coach. (Via The Morning News.)
3. While I'm nowhere near being on pace to finish my 52 new (to me) films in 2005, I am glad that we used a valuable spot on our Blockbuster-by-Mail queue for a Pee-Wee's Playhouse DVD. You know, for the kids. These shows were jam-packed with both creativity and brilliant humor. The kind of humor that kids laugh at even as it goes right over their heads. You don't get much of that on Dora the Explorer. And the show is completely timeless, other than the Jheri-Curl on Cowboy Curtis (Laurence "Larry" Fishburn). We had to quickly change the subject when the seven-year old asked why the show isn't on the air anymore, but other than that the show has proven itself as one of the rare shows that the whole family can happily watch together. We already own Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special, and I have a funny feeling that the Easter Bunny might already know about the kids' love of all things Pee-Wee.
4. After reading the first chapter, I've decided order the book I posted about yesterday, Jason Headley's Small Town Odds. While I wouldn't compare it to Richard Russo's work just yet, it's a good enough story to give it a chance.
5. If you haven't looked at my sidebar lately you might not have noticed that I added my Amazon Wish List (or maybe you did and you've just chosen to ignore it). I've also added a photo album with my pictures from the October Kerry Rally. I dig how TypePad organizes their photo albums.
Update: I had to go back into this post to fix a typo, so I'll add one more thing while I'm here:
6. "tom petty in pink underware" - Someone got directed to my blog today by typing that into Google. Serves me right for for checking my StatCounter. I mean, sure, I have the picture they're looking for, but I'm not going to actually publish it. I'd have to take it down from over the living room fireplace and scan it.
I'm kidding, of course. We don't have a fireplace.
Unplugged
I can't believe it has taken me four days to post about this, but the missus and I officially became hip last Sunday. We finally joined the rest of our generation and bought a notebook computer (I was so unhip I was calling it a laptop - how very 2002 of me).
Our "regular" tethered-by-massive-wireage computer is in the family room down in the basement. That's fine when everyone's down there, but it sucked at night when the kids are in bed and at least one of us needs to be upstairs with them. We spent some of our tax return so we could actually get some time on the computer and still be together (or at least on the same floor as each other). I'd say it was worth it. The two-year-old has been real needy at bedtime this week, so I've been taking the laptop notebook in there with me, which is cool.
The rule at home is that the laptop notebook is Mommy and Daddy's, not the families. The seven-year old has a hand-me-down computer in his room, but it's not hooked up to the Internet. He hates going down to the basement alone, so the temptation to use our laptop notebook is strong. In an effort to get him to write more we have said that he could use the laptop notebook to post to his blog. This explains his recent loquaciousness. The missus made the mistake of playing a Dora game with the two-year old and now he thinks that that's the primary purpose of the laptop notebook.
Sunday we went out to Best Buy to get our laptop notebook, which was on sale starting that morning, before the store ran out of their allotment of ten. We got there a half-hour before opening and there were a bunch of people waiting in their cars. The missus didn't believe me when I said it would happen, but most of those people headed right over to the laptop notebook display when the doors opened. I was smart - I headed over to the salesman, not the display. I ended up being the first to get one. It's just a bare-bones HP (so much for being hip) but it's enough for us. It much faster than the computer in the basement, and that's only about a year old. We hooked our DSL up to a wireless router and the signal has been strong and the connection just as fast as if we were wired.
I could get used to this technology thing.
Moving Pictures
My photoblog, Ipso Photo, has finally been moved from Blogger to TypePad. It took me a month (and I'm still not done moving everything) but I think it looks so so so much better now.
Take a look and don't forget to change your bookmarks.
Urge for Going
In addition to posting a daily photo at my photoblog, you might have noticed that I am posting more of my photos on my Accidental Blogist posts (like this one, with a photo from Old City Philadelphia). The program that I use to upload and host my pictures is Hello!, which, like Blogger, is owned by Google and is a free service. And just like Blogger, it's not great but boy is the price right.
So last week, with a camera full of shots from the City Hall/Rittenhouse Square area (Dragonballyee's domain), Hello! decides it doesn't want to upload my pictures. I spend hours trying to figure out if I can fix it before giving up and emailing the Hello! support staff.
After receiving no response from the Hello! people, I start thinking about Plan B, which would be to actually pay to blog. I talked to the missus about switching over to TypePad if Hello! doesn't start working. She's very cool about it, but I'm still a little skittish about spending money on this right now. I'm afraid that after signing on for a year I'll suddenly come down with blog fatigue. Or I'll get a job I actually enjoy and my priorities will change. Plus, after being told that our basic cable bill will top fifty bucks starting next month (Note to Comcast: There best be a brick with my name engraved on it at your new skyscraper), I'm not too crazy about having another monthly bill.
By yesterday morning Hello! still isn't working and I start doing a lot of research on TypePad and start getting excited and telling the missus all the things we'll be able to do. I go on the computer when I get home from work and there it is: a response from Hello! support. Some of their servers had problems, I should try again now. I try and it's the same thing. All right! I'm going to TypePad World! Just to be sure, I reboot and try again. Damn. Worked. But you knew that already, 'cause I'm still here.
I still plan on switching us over to TypePad one day, but I'd like to make sure I stick with this for about a year before writing that check. Unless I somehow become the Accidentally Rich Blogist before then.
Short Shrift
Think of all the dumb things I write about. Now think of all the dumb things that I don't write about. Where do they go?
Throughout the week I bookmark interesting items that I might want to write about. At the end of the week I end up with the leftovers. Not substantial enough for its own post, too good (at least at one time) to let go. Here goes this week's:
1. Food Network keeps airing All Star Thanksgiving and I keep missing it. It's on this Saturday and again Sunday, both at 4:00pm. What's so special about it? Picture all the Food Network cooks together in one room. Rachael Ray. Emeril Lagasse. Alton Brown (pictured above). Sara Moulton. Tyler Florence. Paula Deen. I'm not crazy about most of these guys (except Alton and Rachael and maybe Tyler) but it's worth watching just to see the vibe between Alton and Emeril. Until they have a steel-cage fight between these two, this will have to do.
2. Congrats to Mark Winegardner who, after winning a contest, has written the first post-Mario Puzo Godfather sequel. Winegardner is the author of one of my favorite novels, Crooked River Burning. Here's hoping he doesn't get pigeon-holed into writing just Godfather books or get his kneecaps broken by angry Puzo fans. I'm hoping readers use the Godfather Returns as an entry point to all of Winegardner's writing.
3. I hope everyone noticed my new improved header banner and revised and detailed list of sites I hit ("Hitting..." on the sidebar).
4. And lastly, from McSweeney's, Cruel Nicknames for Overweight Vampires:
Snackula
Undead Weight
Count Chocoholic
Vampire the Buffet Slayer
Cholesteratu
The Vampurgler
The Vampire Lestop For Some Tacos
Vlad the Inhaler
Child Of Candy Cain
Quiche Lilith
Ghoulash
Queen of the Hammed
Taco Bela
Bela Obesi
Transylvania 6-5000 Calories
Dick Cheney
Das Vhoppyr
Have a great weekend!
Wouldn't You Like to Be a Lemming Too?
Way after all the cool people had already done it, I switched my browser at work to the free Firefly browser yesterday. It was a pretty seamless move from Microsoft Explorer and so far it does seem a lot quicker. I did have trouble downloading the Macromedia Flash Player extension, but that was solved by going right to the Macromedia website. I am soooo hip.
