If a Degree Falls In a Forest...

...Does it make a sound?

Okay ... Now that I've graduated to Beta Blogger, what now? This Diploma and a dollar bill won't even get me a cup of coffee.

Well, it does cover the hole in the plaster wall, formed as a result of a not-so-irresistible force, my fist, meeting a very immovable wall; that experiment a by-product of the transition to a new and improved Blogger.

Now I can hold my head high, despite the concussion suffered when making an even larger hole in another spot on the wall. Injured hand and head aside, I have survived the ordeal. Truth be told, the process was actually ... easy!

There were some bumps in the road, but none that weren't easily overcome. I was and am very impressed with the ease of working with the Sidebar now. I used to dread adding new site links and Blogs to my Blogroll. Don't you just hate having to worry about all those misplaced or omitted key board characters? A missing colon, back slash, or quotation mark made adding URLs a chore, all the while my coffee was turning cold.

When the rest of you make the switch, and you will have to eventually, it's not as bad as my opening paragraphs make it out to be. You can't go wrong by paying Peter a visit. He has an excellent post on the switch that is both detailed and informative, even for the "geek-challenged" hack like myself.

Look at it this way, if that Mike, Hale, Pointmeister, or what ever persona du jour he's using can do it - so can you!

If you find yourself in a bind, no matter how hopeless it seems, just hang in there! When in doubt - SAVE!

For me, Beta Blogger is sort of like a new toy. You will probably see something different on this site nearly every day for awhile. My previous sidebar was dull and boring, hardly worth more than a glance by visitors. With just a simple click and drag, I can rearrange it at will. I can as easily add images and text anywhere on the sidebar as I can remove them - all without plowing through some cumbersome HTML codes.

However, I have found a desire for the ability to use raw HTML coding, which is currently not available. On this particular template, I don't like some of the fonts used. I didn't find the 'day and date' to my liking. It's too large and takes away from the title of the post, hence I changed the color to a very pale green. The titles of my sidebar elements also are too large and only in lower case letters. These will be changed post-haste when HTML access is available.

I realize this is probably boring to most of you, so I'll just let my layout speak for itself.

Now for something special for a special Blogger friend, Jules, who wants to know "Where's the pictures, and I don't mean cartoons?" I sometimes forget that there is a certain segment of the Blogosphere that relishes juicy adult material. What can be more juicy than this pair?

Did you know that another special Blogger is about to become a radio star? She who impressed us with a wonderful 24-hour stint on the recent Blogathon, she who can bitch with the best of them, is about to hit the air waves. Go knock on Monty's door for the details. (You can see how good of a kisser she is!)

I think Monty Unexpurgated (How's that for a title, Monty?) will be a treat for all listeners. Reckon that now that she's hit the big time, she'll remember from where she came? Will she give out autographs? I wonder if she'll sign my BVDs?

No.730

Change Is Good?

Sometimes you just need to step back and take a good look at yourself.

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It wasn't exactly an epiphany, but I thought, "Hey, I need a new look!"

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Comments from some readers complaining about that "sea of blue" were not lost on me. Many of you were having difficulty reading all or part of some of my postings. So I said to myself, "Self, we just cannot have that, can we?"

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I had been following the Blogger News about their new Beta Blogger that was being launched. One bit of information that caught my attention was that eventually all Blogs will be converted to the new system.

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I had put off changing my template in the past because of all of the things that would be lost in the transition. Call me lazy, if you wish, but I wasn't looking forward to rebuilding my Blog Roll and Site Links. Blogger has given me a kick in the pants! If a change was inevitable, then I felt I should get my butt in gear and do it now!

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There are some definite differences. One that I just discovered while preparing this post was a new and improved Spell Checker. Be still your hearts out there, this Spell checker actually recognizes the words "Blog" and "Blogger!" Also, it is very fast! Publishing and Saving as Drafts is faster too. You know that clock thingy, which I call 'the ring of death,' you see when you click Publish? It's gone!

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For the present, access to HTML coding isn't available, so I cannot figure out how to place a Visitor's Counter here yet. Some of the things I had on my previous Sidebar will be missing for a while until HTML access is available. (I miss my scrolling marquees.)

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Please don't be offended or alarmed if you don't see your name on my Blog Roll. I'll be adding them all back - slowly but surely. It'll be a learning process all over again. Invaribly, you'll probly see more and more additions during your subsequent visits here. I guess you could say that this Site is currently "under construction."

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The changes might be small and subtle at first. You might have to take a real close look to spot them. Thankfully, posting pictures is till easy. What would my Blog be without pictures and cartoons anyway?

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That's all for now. I'm off to start working on the additions I want.

Thank you in advance for your patience.

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No.725