Category: computing

This site had over ten thousand unique visitors in April, up from 9400 in March, and way up from the 758 in June of 2002. Not bad for a site where I don’t say much and there’s no nudity, huh? I never thought anyone but friends and family would read this crap. No, really. I don’t want to be the next DaveZilla or Zeldman. I don’t have the time or commitment to it. And when you think about it, the other site I spend 99% of my time on can get ten thousand hits in an hour (I’m guessing, it might be more, I’m not going to actually do the math), my stats aren’t that impressive.

But, all of that BS aside – ten thousand!! It’s something to look at and marvel at the zeroes. Mmmm, zeroes. (and for crying out loud, is there a happier song in the world than Phish’s Mango Song?)

I now have 110 subscriptions in NetNewsWire, and am now included in the sites list that ships with the software (as of the latest beta, and hopefully in 1.0.2). 110 subscriptions… is that too many? Am I nuts?

I neeeed this t-shirt. I need it worse than their coding ninja monkeys one. No really, I’m not kidding. I’m sitting here looking at it trying not to click Add to Cart.

UPDATE: I am weak. The shirt has been ordered and is wending its way down the toll road to me (ThinkGeek’s right down the road from us). Shame on me… uncontrollable urges….

I haven’t received anymore nominations, and the non-winners have been notified (they’re not losers because their blogs weren’t ugly or “default template-y” enough to warrant awarding the prize to – get it?). Now, I know you’re all wondering who the big winner is… Is the suspense killing you? I know it’s killing me, so here you go:

Both Marty and Michelle win!! I only got three entrants. Alisha’s blog is definitely not ugly, so she doesn’t qualify. Both Michelle and Marty’s blogs are both using default MT templates and well, they need help. Not because they’re ugly – but because they’re default, and that’s sad to me. Michelle’s will be done first because she entered first, but they’ll both be getting e-mail from me shortly asking them all sorts of personal designery questions so I can get started. Congratulations to you both! Prepare to get un-default-ified!!!

Yes, it’s back. I have a horrible case of redesignitis, and this site will probably be the unwilling victim. In the past week, I’ve been tempted no fewer than five times to offer to redesign blogs for people. Why? I have no idea. I need the pain of wrangling more CSS, I guess. I didn’t get enough wrangling miles and miles of it for work this week. What’s wrong with me?

Maybe I’ll start a charity… Redesigns For Ugly Sites. Maybe it should be: Redesigns For Sites Who Still Use MT’s Default Templates. Yes, I know the templates are fine and it’s the content that counts, but I’m not in a particularly sensative mood – so, come on people!! At least try to make your site look different/special. And adding that little gif that has the girl and the weather on it doesn’t count.

So, here’s the deal. I’m feeling weird and generous. Post a link to your ugly blog in the comments, and I’ll pick the ugliest one to redesign. Of course, you don’t have to use the new design. You also aren’t allowed to whine about it either. You get what you get. It’ll be fine and work and be reasonably standards compliant. No, it will not support Netscape 4.x or any other ancient piece of browser trash you have laying around your computer. It will work well in modern version of IE, Mozilla, Safari and any browser based on one of the above.

Oh, and it may not be fast. I may take a month to redesign the winning abomination. And you may get some unexpected features and could end up being a guinea pig for some new weirdness I want to try. Oh, and no stupid weathergirls! Is that enough rules?

UPDATE: I’ll be making my decision tomorrow (5/7) and posting the winner tomorrow night. May the ugliest / most default templatey blog win!

Ok, I registered for blogshares. I’m probably not going to actually play, but it’ll be interesting to see what my “blogging value” is.

Do you use a Mac and Mozilla? Are you slightly embarrassed to use the ugly old themes? You have been saved!! Check out the Pinstripe Theme for Mozilla, RIGHT NOW!! It’s gorgeous and will make Mozilla purdy again.

Gizmodo is my new crack. All the gadgets I’ll never own with pretty pictures and enticing descriptions. Excuse my while I go salivate.

I love gadgets. I just can’t afford all the ones I want. So many toys, so little cash. I need to work for a tech magazine or some place that gives them away. I’d write reviews, I promise. Really really I would.

There’s so much I could be doing right now that I’m not going to do. There are things I could do to get ahead for work this week. There are things I could do to improve myself, learn something or be “constructive”. Am I going to do any of them tonight? Nope. I’m going to sit here and watch TV, or maybe go play Civ 3 and forget that I have to work next week, and it’ll be crazy. Avoidance wins tonight. Avoidance wins almost every night. Work will be there tomorrow…

Action Tin Toy has the coolest freebies. The wallpaper and icons are retro-gorgeous. The icons alone are reason enough to switch to a Mac (ok, grasping at straws, but you really should think about it).

I’ve got some new things I want to try here. I want to write longer entries, but still keep the short “Ooh, go check this out” option open. There are lots of ways to do this, and a lot of people do it… It’s my turn. Look for some changes around here in the next few weeks (you know, as I get time).

In other good news, I got a new Powerbook! It’s the same model as I had before (TiBook 550), but it has more RAM! Things run so much better now that I’m not running out of RAM all the time. Good good stuff.

In related news, and another fine reason to use OS X, it is extremely easy to restore all your crap in OS X. First, just backup the Library directory from your home directory. Then, when you get your new Mac, install all your apps, create a user with the same name as the old one, and copy the contents of the old Library folder into the new Library folder. Voila, all your saved passwords in Mozilla, all your old mail, and bookmarks! How cool is that?