Mish Mash

First of all, can I just say that Blogger has come a long long long way since I first started this relationship in 2004? It's amazing how little html or web design language or knowledge a person now needs to do this gig. I used to have to go into the actual code to change color, font, page design, column width, etc. Now I only have to click this, click that, try this or that out in instant real time application before I commit to it, and when I've clicked around and played around enough to be satisfied, I just click the option that basically says, "Yeah--go ahead and do that" and voila!

I'm pleased to say that the Monkey Virus is largely gone now, save for the radiating pain in my teeth. Bizarre, yes. Sinus infection, no. All I know is that my Dear Mother had this illness a few weeks ago and also admitted to painful teeth.

What I really want to say tonight really should not go into in a "mish mash" sort of piece, so I am going to wrap up the "mish mash" in this post and move on to something real next....

Xanax, Please!

As you can see, I've been updating stuff around here. It's still not the way I really want it to be, but I'm kinda stoopid when it comes to web design and html. I have to say, though, that I began this blog four years ago, and four years ago Blogger was NOT as user friendly as it is today. Therefore, back when I started this gig, I didn't too bad to figure out some of the stuff I figured out. After all that figuring out I did back then, I was afraid to change anything and mess it all up, and so I never updated. I got brave the other night, am I'm glad I did. Now Blogger gives you all these easy to use tools that didn't exist four years ago. You used to have to manually make all those changes in your html template.

In other news, my Dear Daughter has apparently reached a new rite of passage, and one that I am truly not ready for yet. As I helped her finish brushing her teeth the other night, I discovered that she has a permanent tooth pushing through her gums right behind the baby tooth on the lower front. I freaked out a bit, and this did not seem right to me. You will remember that not quite a year ago we had the shock of discovering that Daughter was hiding an extra tooth in her upper jaw that would have to be surgically removed. It was a tad traumatic for me, and the attached price tag was not an easy thing to accept either, so perhaps my freak out was justified. Let me further justify by stating that Dear Husband has a colleague whose daughter (a couple years older than my Dear Daughter) recently had NINE teeth pulled for what would seem to be the same issue. My friend, who is a pediatric dentist, thought my freak out was over the top. Despite his reassurance that this is no cause for alarm, I still contacted Daughter's dental clinic immediately the next morning, and the receptionist calmly asked me if my daughter's tooth--the on in front of the permanent one coming in--was loose. "Well, I don't know...." I responded rather stoopidly. It hadn't occured to me to check. She waited patiently for me to clear away the Life cereal my daughter was eating and wiggle her front teeth. "Why yes, it does appear a little loose." I responded to her feeling a little silly as I anticipated where this was going. The receptionist giggled a bit and informed me that she expected the tooth fairy was coming soon. I argued that my daughter is barely five years old, and she reassured me there is a pretty wide window for what's normal in the way of loosing primary teeth.

Okay then. Works for me. I don't need more dental worries or dental bills right now. Meanwhile, however, that front tooth hasn't fallen out yet and is barely noticably loose when you try to wiggle the thing, and that permenet tooth is coming in rapidly. I fear she will look a little freaky if that tooth doesn't find its way out of her mouth sooner than later. At the same time, I am really NOT ready for my firstborn to begin losing her little girl teeth. Next thing you know I'll be buying her a traning bra. Lord, help me!

Glitch #999

Everything appears the same if you don't use a site feed to view this blog. However, last night I was playing with the new labels feature and added labels to my new post as well as some old posts. Today I discovered that my site feed is picking up the newly labeled (but old) posts and feeding them as if they are new entries. I removed the labels, but that didn't fix the order of the feed. So until I can figure out how to fix the issue, I will remain irritated and annoyed...and so will you if you are using a site feed to view this site. If anyone can tell me how to fix it, I would be thrilled.

I Have No Idea...

...what has been going on in the world of html. I know just enough about html (and PC's, and Microsoft software products, and the internet in general) to mess stuff up and get myself in trouble, and on occaision to actaully do something right.

To be certain, computers have come a long way since 1984 when I was first learning to produce graphics...which at that time took amazingly long strings of code to make extremely large pixel graphics. By the time I reached college, I was introduced to world of Wang computers and Apple computers and my first course in word processing. I first started to figure out Microsoft software when I took my first gig as an editor. I later faked my way into a job as an administrative assistant at a university and fortunately was to quick to learn a whole lot more computer stuff, including my first experience with email and then a student taught me to "surf the net." That was 1995. That was also about the time I accidentally got signed up on listserves and found myself flung through cyberspace into an internet chat room. I think I had to figure out IRC to get that far. It was pure accident. I really had absolutely no idea what I was doing. And that's where I eventually met my husband. As I said previously, I managed to know just enough to get myself in trouble. Ha! I later took another job as an administrative assistant and figured out how to write databases (it wasn't part of my job description, I was just bored).

Now I am married to a computer geek (the same one I accidentally met in an internet chatroom). We have too many desktops, laptops, firewalls, wireless networks, and assorted other stuff going on in this house. Husband knows a lot about a lot of stuff related to computers, but not necessarily a whole lot in the realm of html and web design. I'm largely on my own in this one, but he helps bail me out from time to time.

If you've tried to visit my blog lately, you have probably muttered, "What the heck!" just as I have. Okay, okay...I've said a few stronger words than that. I've been having lots of problems with my RSS feed, especially when I post something I've originally written in Word. Dear Hubby helped me resolve that this week only for me to discover the next day that my page was not loading at all. I eventually realized that half of the code for my template was missing! Huh?! Hubby assured me (and he is the computer expert after all...at least that what they tell him at his job) that it was not due to anything we did to fix the feed. Simultaneous to all this, Blogger has been down for maintenance and now is "new and improved" and no longer using beta (don't ask me what "beta" is...I thought it was the Greek letter for "B," but I am thinking it has another meaning in this case). Once I managed to get the code restored to my template, I found each time I tried to post for the next 36 hours, there was a new glich.

But I've made my way back again. Barring any other major catastophies I will be back to the regularly scheduled program in between chasing my speed demon of a 13 month old son. While not quite walking on his own yet, give him a push toy to support himself with, and he is tearing up the house and wearing paths in the floors at breakneck speeds. His favorite route is around the kitchen table, through the legs of his highchair, out the kitchen, around the great room and back again. Over and over and over again. But God forbid he gets "stuck" somewhere and cannot immediately navigate his way back out as he has a one-track mind and hot temper. Husband quipped the other day that he definitely takes after both of us (my husband with the one-track mind and myself with the hot temper). Hopefully he will also take after both us with some additionally redeeming qualities. I'm guessing that "two" is going to be a tough year for us as intense as "one" has begun.