Open Mouth, Insert...

You can tell when you're tired when you look at a post that you were going to write about how little sleep that you got and find that it's completely incoherent--or at least more incoherent than the other posts on this blog. Oh, am I projecting my problems onto you, my vic--er--gentle reader? I'm sorry. On a happier note, I did fix the archives link, which now actually get you to the archives instead of wherever bad links go to die.

Okay, I'm going nuts with the whole design meme. As you can probably tell, I've once again updated the design for the main page. I'm not done, either; I'm thinking of putting a pic of the month spot on the main page (which will necessitate a pic of the month archive, but that's another project). Given the rate in which I take pictures, a POTM should be just about right. The only issue here is where to put it. On the bright side, I like this design; it's more complex than the previous design, but it keeps the basic color scheme straight. Maybe I'll keep it for a while before getting bored with it. What is it with me and tweaking this blog's design at the drop of a hat? On a different note altogether, I spent another Christmas with my parents, and this year I received a new driver from my dad. Even though I have yet to use it, I like it already. The club seems to weigh about half of what my normal (I'm trying hard not to say old) driver does, despite the fact that the new one's head is about twice the size. There's no way I'm going to be missing golf balls with this thing! Getting them to go where I want is a different matter entirely. Also, the club was a good tool with which to threaten the inevitable battery-powered, dancing-and-singing stuffed (insert pertinent holiday here) thing my mom would get; this year it was a rubber snowman. It didn't deter anyone from turning it on and driving me mad, however. Maybe next year...

I uploaded another template onto BlogSkins. This one's called Something Green and it should be entertaining to and possibly even controversial. Why do I think it's controversial? First of all, I designed it with Mozilla in mind (as it is my opinion that it is the best browser available) and then backfilled toward Explorer. I've noticed that most of the kiddies that frequent the site not only use IE but code directly toward it as well, using its CSS extensions and other "kewl" tricks that aren't universal; I can't begin to say how many templates there "jump the box" (by not using 'overflow' properly). As I think about it now, perhaps this template is a way of evening the scales a bit. Second, I placed a license from Creative Commons on the code. This is a direct result of the amount of whining, hand-wringing and accusations about stealing code. I don't think my people there would be willing to steal my code, but to my knowledge this is the first time someone has tried this on the site. That in itself could generate some conversation. That is, of course, if it gets noticed. I get the feeling based on the feedback from my first template (based on this one) that I'm not exactly "kewl" with the kiddies. Which is fine by me; I get a place to play and experiment a bit. If someone uses what I create, that's very cool, but it's also gravy for what I want. Well, I'm off to visit relatives. You have yourselves a very merry Christmas--or holiday equivalent!

Okay, maybe I didn't donate my body to Science! Those mad Scientists probably couldn't find a good use for it anyway. What I did do, however, was sign up to BlogSkins.com and upload a cleaned-up version of this very design. It's been up for maybe two hours now, and it already has a rating of 3.5 (out of 5) with 2 comments. Apparently the only major complaint is that it's too plain. I can live with that; this design was supposed to be simple, elegant and above all, readable. Maybe I'll get fancy later...

For someone who has a pressing need to lose around 50 pounds, it's amazing that sometimes I can simply forget to eat. Today was one such occasion. I had woken up late and had to get to work by 1 o'clock, so I hastily got myself showered and together and out the door without even once thinking about food. I got to work in one piece, started the work day smoothly and was humming along until about 3 o'clock, when I IMed one of the friends I had earned from NaNoWriMo. She was bummed out because her New Year's plans were turning to ash; her boyfriend would be out of town during the New Year and she discovered that she wasn't invited to a party to which she thought she had been invited. I felt bad for her, especially as I understand all too well how work can ravage even the best-laid holiday plans, but every time I tried to think of something to say (or type, as the case may be) my brain caked up, and I had to drag up responses through mile upon figurative mile of cobwebbed synapses. This dragged on for about five minutes while I tried to figure out why I was so muddled, when I finally realized that I hadn't eaten anything for close to twenty hours! So I abruptly signed off from the conversation and snuck out of work to pick up something from the gas station nearby. It wasn't much--a PBJ, some chips and a soda--but it did the trick. I do feel like I could use a nap, but that's likely from the all the sleep I didn't get during the week. I hope my friend isn't too mad at me for skipping out of the conversation so abruptly. She had logged off by the time I had finished eating...

Here's an amusing and interesting obervation I made while working of the redesign: take a look at the top of the page. Unless you use a browser that severely limits them, there's an ad on the top of the page. And chances are it's one of those "Ads by Google" ads. Now, while I like the fact that occasionally it'll have what I call the "Blank Space Ad", I find it amusing that it will try to place small ads based on what content is on the page at the time. So, when I talked about the Twins up through October, all it had were ads about where to purchase Twins tickets. And today, after Monday's entry mentioning Christmas and snow, there are ads for Christmas fruit cakes and vacationing in San Diego. Since I now know that I have the power to affect what ads are showing on my page, will I try to abuse that power? I can answer that with just one word: Kumquat. Let's see what happens...

As you can probably tell (all two or three of you that read this), I've gone and redesigned the main page here. I've also tweaked the archives a bit so they are displayed monthly instead of by every couple of weeks--given as often as I normally update, that just makes sense--though I have yet to change the archive template to mesh with the main template. Finally, I've added the ability to make comments on my posts (via Haloscan's free service), which you can get to by clicking on the "Comment" link at the end of every post. If you've noticed the similarities in the layout of the main page and the ATC Project (see the link on your left), I've noticed them too. And no, I wasn't intending to do it like that. I guess I just like that style...

Remember in my last post where I was wondering why anyone would have a wedding in December in Chicago? Now I know. It's the snow. The wedding mass had just ended and everyone was filing out as the first flurries began to fall. By the time the reception got underway a couple of hours later, an inch of snow had accumulated. Everything was white, which went well with the white and ice-blue motif for the wedding. The wedding itself was nice enough; a Catholic wedding in an old church (I want to say that the building is close to 100 years old) festooned with alcoves and arches and stained glass, presided by a priest that had two speaking speeds: fast and Yoinks! But for all of that, the reception trumped everything. A large reception room was rented out and draped almost completely in white. It was just like the scene outside, only warmer. There was an ice scuplture (a swan) and the cake was framed by a light-encrusted arch and a white Christmas tree. To top it all off, a swing band was brought in to provide music for the whole affair. Now, any reception nowadays that doesn't have either "YMCA" or "Electric Slide" is a good one in my book. But this blew away any reception I have ever been to before. I now know that if/when my turn ever comes up, I'll have a lot of work on my hands to "keep up" with the rest of the family...

After dealing with my car these past couple of weeks, I am more than ready for a vacation of any sort. So I'm thankful that I just happen to have a trip to Chicago planned for this weekend, starting tomorrow. It's another family wedding--this time for my cousin Shawn. If I wasn't so ready to go, I'd question the logic in having a wedding in December in the Chicagoland area. Ah well, I'll just have to take the impending cold like a man (layer up!) and try to enjoy myself. Life can be so tough sometimes... After years of putting it off and convincing myself that I didn't need one, I now own a cellular phone. It's a tiny thing that I picked up at Best Buy--it's maybe a quarter the size of my Palm when it's folded. And so far, I haven't managed to lose it! It's fun to play with, too, though I always enjoy playing with my new toys. So what was it that convinced me to get a cell phone? My car, of course. I was on 540 driving to my folks' place to take a good look at the car when the left front tire blew out. Of course I was in the right-hand lane when it blew so I rolled one lane over to the shoulder without disrupting traffic. That's when the fun began. Did you know that when the tire company puts new tires on, they use some sort of pnuematic lug wrench to screw them tight? I found out when I tried to loosen them on the highway. So, for the next 30 minutes there I was, butt sticking out too close to traffic for my tastes, jumping up and down on the L-wrench that came with the car as a part of its tire changing package in a mostly vain effort to loosen those nuts. I had gotten 3 loosened up when help arrived. The guy that showed up (a wiry fellow) worked at one of the local shops, so it was child's play to finish the job. So, roughly 5 minutes (and one prayer as "payment") later, the donut was installed and I was back on the road. To make a long story short, my parents decided to pay for new tires (Merry Christmas!), and my car is currently fixed and in good shape. Now I just need to figure out the warranty situation, and things will be back to normal!

So, I get to the shop to lay down my ducats and get my car back, complete with a new ignition coil and set of fan belts, and I'm driving to work directly from the shop (I dropped my dad's car off there so he can pick it up on the way home...). And guess what happens? That's right, the check engine light pops back on, as I'm motoring down 440! I would have turned the car right back around and returned to the shop, but a) I would have been late for work, b) I couldn't figure out for the life of me what causing the car to whine *this* time, and c) I was too upset to give any sort of coherent advice. So, it's back to the shop for the car tomorrow (unless the car suddenly decides to behave) and more money laid out. Blarg...

It isn't enough that my car's been in the shop for the past couple of days, or that to get it tomorrow, I'm going to have to deal with what central North Carolina considers to be winter weather (a.k.a., a flurry or two) and all the crappy driving that'll result. Not to mention spending $600 to get it out. Now the creative part of my brain has decided that it would be a good idea to convert Gamma World 4th Edition to FUDGE. Okay, so I didn't really like the latest edition that White Wolf's Swords and Sorcery imprint just released. And in case you're wondering, it's not because it's d20--it just takes everything about the game too seriously, not matter what they said to the contrary in the beginning of the book. Gamma World is supposed to be goofy, gonzo fun, but they dragged it down by over-emphasizing the apocalypse part of "post-apocalypse." And where are the sentient plants? I thought being able to play as a walking, talking hibiscus (or whatever your favorite plant is) was an important part of the flavor of the game. But I digress... Anyway, that kind of conversion would be a *large* undertaking. I can only imagine how long the development time *was* on 4th edition! And besides, I have characters in my NaNo story that are starting to get huffy because they think I upped and left them! I think I'm getting a headache...