Recently I’ve been trying to respond to one person’s blog, and I’ve gotten errors.  Then I try on another browser and can make 1 reply.  Then on to a third to make another reply.  Then I have to log completely off my computer to make another reply.  Just weird.  Of course while testing all this out it looks like I’m making very weird comments.   Of course, sometimes I do make weird comments, so nobody really notices the difference. 😉

But, I wonder is anyone having trouble commenting on my blog.  Am I loosing the opinions, views, and comments of others?  I can’t be sure, unless they contact me in some other manner.  

The other thing I notice this past week, I’m getting more spam type replies.  Since I do some moderation  of all the replies, most don’t get through, but I see them.   I don’t like them, they add no value to my blog.  That is important to me.   I would like this blog to be a place for me to share, inform, rant and maybe entertain.  Both my initial post and the responses to them help with this.  Spam replies do none of this.

Then I noticed that some blog themes like certain browsers better than others.  This is to be expected, since some browsers handle the coding differently.   It is my hope that my current blog works well with all browsers.  It certainly works with the ones I use, on the screen setting I use.  Input on what you see would help out.

Finally I started using a few polls.  There is one poll on this site that I’m guessing our wonderful Admin put on when he was testing the poll plugin install.  Here it is for your pleasure, and my education.

[poll id = 1]

Ain’t technology grand. Today, I looked at my stats again. I found somebody has accessed this lonely little blog on their blackberry. I’ve seen people stopping by that use Windows, Macs, Linux boxes and other PC systems, but I don’t recall seeing anything from a phone. Amazing. You can now read complete drivel, on the go, with your phone. (yes, I do think this blog is complete drivel, I’m only emptying my brain, I try to keep the good stuff in.)

So for my information, what type of device do you use to blog or read them? I’ve only used my windows laptop. Multiple Web browsers, but I keep trying new things. Really I just want to know who used the blackberry? Curiouser and curiouser.

I’ve been having a bit of fun writing up an Dungeons and Dragons adventure journal. It is something I wanted to share, but I didn’t want them to get lost or take over the main part of my blog. So I put them into different pages. Because I wanted easy access to my posts, I decided to change my blog theme too. This new theme allowed me to post the page links in a side bar and allow easy access. so far so good.

But the one thing i did notice is that the new pages were not included in links to new posts… Hmm, no easy way to indicate a new story line was added. I thought about writing an intro post for each new chapter or page. That seemed to be a bit too much. One or two lines are all that are needed anyway. Since I have a post that starts the adventure, I’m thinking that I will add a comment for each new page. The comments are listed as recent events, so people who are interested can see the new additions easily.

Lost a few on my post count, but who’s counting anyway?

You may have noticed (or not) that this site now has a new Theme. I found the old one just a bit restrictive on what I wanted to do now.

Since I started adding additional pages, I wanted an easy way to get to all of them. And I noticed the two column design was getting very lengthy. I don’t like scrolling down the page to find what I am looking for.

So here is the new theme. As a side benefit, you should be able to respond on each page. I’m always looking for feedback so here is your chance.

I made an entry on another site yesterday and noticed a spike in my readers. There really was nothing new to this, the other site seems to be a curious bunch and when I post, my blog readership does spike for a day or two

I did something a little out of the ordinary for me, I begged for readers outside of my blog. Spike city, and I also got additional responses!!!

One of the reasons I started this blog, was a chance to communicate with more people. If nobody responds, I’m not communicating, just writing. So I welcome all newcomers.

For anyone new, most of the time I write about things that interest me. My interests vary widely and can be influenced by responses…. I’ve been into computer communication since the time of 300 baud acoustic modems. I started sharing Dungeons and Dragons hints and stuff like that in the late 70’s early 80’s. Then I got into it for work related functions and finally with this blog back to fun again.

Pick an interest, and I may write about it.

1) new/old movies tv shows (Things I’ve seen, or things I won’t and why)
2) Books (I like books, do you have any suggestions? I don’t read romance, just a quirk of mine)
3) Science News, mostly space related, but that is just a starting point
4) Odd News the odder the better in my book
5) cooking, I like to find new recipes. All sorts
6) Family – I have one and I like them
7) Friends – They are the family you pick
8 ) Hobbies and other pastimes
9) The trials, tears and other feelings about being a Widower and only parent
10) Life – thinking about it and living it

Notice I didn’t put up anything about religion or politics. I was always taught that it is almost impossible to have polite conversation in those areas, unless everyone agrees with my Father. Since he is no longer around to moderate those conversations, and I’m not in the mood to moderate them, I guess they won’t happen here.

Enjoy, and be welcome.

Before cell phones and text messaging, before the internet and email, before the telephone, before the typewriter, people used to write letters by hand. They knew their language, both the writing part and the reading part.

Today in this fast paced world people don’t take the time to write letters anymore. A quick email here, and text message their, an entry in a blog or on MySpace are what communication is today. I’m as guilty as the next person, except that I don’t instant message, chat or text. I’m much to wordy for any of those media. It is just too sad that people don’t know anything about the complete art of letter writing/reading.

NOTICE!!! I included reading in my assessment of a lost art. Before the advent of all these new ways to communicate, people took the time to read their letters. They were not meant to be a quick read. These were missives that someone took time to write and they deserved time in reading also.

Why am I mentioning this? Good question, I asked it of myself too. It seems that some maybe most people are looking at blog sites, and bulletin boards as direct communication to themselves. They take comments meant for general consumption and think others are talking about them. They have hard feelings when they think something or someone is against them. Now, I will admit that in some cases they may have a valid point, but in others, people weren’t talking or writing about them. But they want to take in personally.

Then again, people today don’t think before they write. They can write things that could be considered cruel toward an individual or a group. People then get bent out of shape and small wars tarnish the blogs, bulletin boards and myspace accounts. So sad sometimes. Good conversations are ruined by misunderstandings. It happens almost everywhere on the web.

So in this, I asked myself: Why?. I came up with one simple idea. It could be something, it could be nothing at all. We are losing the ability to communicate effectively with the written word, just by not paying attention to what we write and how we read. Is this something we will miss in our lives, or will the older members of society who remember this sort of communication, just talk (write?) about the good ol’ days.

Just one word of advice to those who read Blogs, myspace accounts, bulletin boards, emails, text msgs. and the like. If you read something that bothers you, take some time, leave it, come back to it later read it again. Before responding in haste or anger, make sure you understand what is written,and if those word really apply to you. I’ve used that since the my very first e-mail, and intend to keep using that practice well into my very last e-mail or whatever form of communication the future brings me.

The reason I blog is given at the top of my blog page. I use this spot to generally clear my head when I start thinking too much. Sometimes I actually write about the thoughts in my head (now for instance), other times I just write about things I think are interesting. I’m here because I want to be here. If I had no readers at all that would be enough for me (I’ve done journals the same way for the past few years, just to get things out). This is replacing any journals I’ve had. I don’t ever really write anything that I would consider inner secrets. Secrets are only kept if no one knows about them. People have been able to read my handwriting before, so a written journal is no place to keep secrets.

Now for the other reasons I write this blog, and why it replaced my journal. I know that I have friends and family that read things here, and it gives me a small way to keep in touch. Some of the friends and occasionally family will reply and let me know what they think of my blogging. Others will email me on their thoughts. Both let me know that there is some interest in what I have to write.

What I find interesting, is that I look at the stats to my blog (check the right hand column, minor stats are there) and I see a larger number of people will read my blog on occasion. Most of them never respond. So I really have no way of knowing if this blog is of any interest too them. I can tell that there are a few repeat viewers, but I don’t know who they are yet. As far as I can tell, some people are really getting to know me, while I sit in the dark about them. Oh well, some people are born to lurk….

Just was thinking about that as my visitor count went from the normal 12-15 visitors/day to a count of just over 20 in less than 5 minutes… So to you 8+ new visitors, I bid you welcome. Hope you found something useful.

—- Just saying Hi to all the lurkers again—-

Yesterday, and part of today, I spent cleaning house here on my blog. I didn’t see any use to keeping the “Tag Clouds” on my page, I never used them, and they didn’t really help me find past blogs. So I threw the clouds out, and put in Categories instead.

Then I noticed I wasn’t very good at putting categories on all of my posts. That wouldn’t help my searches at all. As I passed 50 or so posts, it wasn’t good enough just to go back page by page just when I wanted. So I’m going to be cleaning up my posts, entering new categories to help me find things, and maybe figure out a better way during the process.

I’m open to all suggestions on this.

Currently (as I write this), my top read posts contain two posts I wrote about books. If I look at the posts from the last 10 days, I find posts about books take 4 of the top 10 spots. I just found this fascinating. In fact one of my best few days in blogging (most visitors in a 24 hour period) came after I wrote about my favorite books.

This got me thinking. If I’m not in a play, I tend to read a great deal. Recently my tastes have been stuck in Science Fiction and Mysteries, but I will read different things at different times. Really different at some times, during my high school days I read 4 different encyclopedia sets from A to Z. Ok, one of them was a children’s set I read again, but I did read it during High School.

Anyway, I was thinking I need to take my reading in a new direction. So if you have a book you really like, please respond. I’m going to try to read as many as I can. I’m a quick reader, so depending on the list, it may not take too long.

Yes, this is another one of those posts designed to change lurkers into responders…..

Recent books I’ve read ….

Why did it have to be Snakes (Mysteries of Indiana Jones) Lois H. Gresh and Robert Weinberg

The Early Asimov — Isaac Asimov

Sherlock Holmes and the case of Sabina Hall L. B. Greenwood

and re-reading A Morbid Taste for Bones — Ellis Peters

I’ve only been blogging for a little while, but I’ve been reading blogs for longer than they’ve been called blogs. While I won’t say I created the internet, I’ve been on it since for a very long time. So now I’m asking the question what makes an interesting Blog? Of course, since this is my blog, I’m going to answer that question too. At least in my opinion. 😉

The first thing that draws my attention to a blog is the person who writes it. I don’t hop from blog site to blog site looking for blogs to read. My personal preference, but to each their own. The second is content. Here I will do searches and sometimes find blogs that fit my search. If they have good content, I will read them. Are they accurate if it is an informational blog? Funny if a humorous blog? Clever, fun, easy to read, catches the eye, interesting. All these play a role in the content of the blog. Finally, blog personality. How does the person writing the blog ‘sound’? Do they seem like a person I could get along with, or get in an argument with (I like a good argument every now and again)? Does the blogger seem real?

That’s it one paragraph on what makes a good blog for me. And I have found them. Check my blog links, they are some good ones. Unfortunately, one of my favorite blogs is no longer in existence. My nephew wrote a blog years ago, but for some reason gave it up. Some of the most interesting reading I’ve ever seen, from a person I only thought I knew. His blog was everything a good blog should be.