Tweak this, tweak that (no, not *that* :Þ)

First off, I'd like to thank everyone for the kind birthday wishes.

Secondly, I'd like to thank everyone for the compliments on my blog template.
I tweaked the font settings, so it's better in Firefox, but still a little larger than I'd hoped for in IE, but not enough to fudge the layout, so it'll do. I also tweaked the comment popup to match the site more. Hope you like :)

Yay, it's my birthday! Uh Huh, it's my birthday!

The self serving post title, although accurate, is not about celebrating another year of my existence (although, that happens today too). It's more because I figured out what the heck was wrong with the template, after two days of fiddling, faddling, twiddling and anything else you can think of, I finally got it to display properly in Internet Explorer (links and all!), and I'm really, really pleased about that.

To those who are considering customizing their templates (like Michelle), fair warning: HTML has nothing to do with it. It's all Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and fairly complicated ones at that. I have almost no experience with them myself, which is why I had to bust my butt to figure this sucker out (and I did learn a lot in the process). I'd suggest you do what I did, and create a hidden "template testing" blog. (and make sure you back up any and all templates, just copy and paste the code into notepad and save it)
Even despite my precautions, I still messed up the template (which is why, if you stopped by last night, you saw I had the old template up temporarily).

This template is a heavily modified version (both in code and graphics) of the Blogger template "Rounders" by Douglas Bowman (whom I am very greatful to, just for creating it that I could learn from it).

I've now taken it upon myself to continue to learn CSS, so I can totally create my own templates from scratch. Obviously this will help me in other areas (like my own online portfolio). Once I get this more down pat, I'll also understand more how to insert the blogger coding (again, html is useless for it, for the most part).

The only real discrepancy now, is font size. I don't know if it's just my default browser settings, or what. In IE, text size is set to "medium" and everything fits perfectly, and looks nice. In Firefox however, the text is quite small, and the "normal" text size doesn't actually change it (I have to increase the size to get it comparable to IE). So either the "x-small" setting (in the CSS code), is x-small for Firefox, and "small" for IE (at least in proportional appearance), or there's a setting in Firefox I can't seem to find...

Let me know if it's too difficult to see. I can still set it to "small", and it will be normalized in FF, but a little larger in IE (but hopefully shouldn't mess up the layout of the page).

As for the links, I'm not 100% certain on how they were affected, but they show now too, so I'm glad of that :)

If anyone else is new to this, and wants to customize their blog template, maybe we can start a club, or a group blog to hash out information :)

Oh what a difference a browser makes...

I was so happy with my new template and such. And then nobody could see the link. Why? They were using Internet Explorer. Blogger always recommends Firefox (which is what I use by default). So now I'm going to have to re-write this template from the ground up, to make it as cross-browser compatible as possible. I appologize for the inconvenience.

Just so you can see the difference:

Firefox:


Internet Explorer:


*sigh*

Wish me luck...

It's Official...

The egg came first...

Not that this really comes as a surprise...

Out with the old, in with the new...

So I decided to start playing around with blog templates. The graphical part is easy. The hard part is the blogger coding that creates the actual blog. So I started out small. I modified the existing template I had on the site ("Rounders" by Douglas Bowman). I rather like it. It's unique, personalized, but still familiar. Feel free to share your thoughts and comments on it.

I have a hidden "template testing" blog, and intend to start creating more, and from scratch.

Random Thoughts...

1]Just saw a great new commercial using footage from Godzilla 98, for doritos. They show his "first appearance", and the fish semi-truck he chomps on is replaced by a doritos truck, and at the end of the commercial, it shows when he appears from the sewer, except this time he's licking cheese powder from his hands.

2]The Weather. I love this time of year. It's not too hot, and it's nice and breezy. I'm of the opinion that the windows should be WIDE open, even if you have to wear a shirt. Besides, indoor air is generally less healthy than outdoor air, so circulation is good. However, not everyone I live with seems to share the "open the windows" opinion...

3]I made brownies yesterday. They're gone today .
But that's not the point I'm trying to make here. Now, I've always been pretty good at math (although it wasn't my fave subject, so I always took the easier classes, no calculus for me!), but I'm ever so slightly befuddled. I was trying to figure out approximate baking times for our new stove based upon total surface area of the baking dish. The mix recommended a 13x9 pan, which gives you 117 square inches of surface area, at 28-31 minutes. And I started thinking...
If I took 3 inches off t he long side (making it 10 inches), and added it back to the shorter side, (making it 12 inches), essentially we're not actually losing size, however, now we have 120 square inches of surface area! Where'd that extra 3 square inches come from? I had taken the total inches (22, specifically. 13+9, 10+12, etc.) and started thinking of other derivations thereof. I came to the conclusion that an 11x11 square pan gives you 121 square inches, ie the most out of any derivations of 22, and thus, the shortest baking time (more surface area, and the mix would be spread out more. I haven't even attempted to calculate the changes in depth between variables, but I feel it's a fair assumption. So an 11x11 pan will probably only take about 20 minutes), not to mention it being easier to cut even pieces for everyone (assuming you're anal enough measure each piece. I assure you, despite my apparent nerdness, I'm not THAT anal).
Why did I start contemplating all this? Because I was in the bathroom, where all great and wonderous thinking takes place.

4]The Da Vinci Code: And I thought I was paranoid...
First off, this (from book to movie) has always been promoted as a work of *fiction*. Even if it wasn't, it isn't anything more than speculation (heck, even within the fictious story, the storyline is based on speculation).
Secondly, Da Vinci was a brilliant man, but a] has a known history of playing with genders in his work. For whatever reason, he had no problem painting/drawing effeminate men, masculine women, and often, gender non-specific figures. It seems he found them interchangeable, or at the very least, felt that the specific genders of his subjects were unimportant in many of his works of art. Also, b] as brilliant as he was, why would he, and he alone, have this specific information (presented in the ficticious work)? He also have a known history of being a theorist. A really good one, too. Even if he did theorize everything presented therein, it's still just that, a theory!
Thirdly, and this is from a more christian standpoint: One of the tenets about the bible is, "take nothing out, nor add anything to" it. What is in the bible is there for a reason, what's not there was also done for a reason. But that doesn't mean that stuff didn't happen outside the bible (it just wasn't included for whatever reasons). Jesus may have taken Mary Magdalene as his wife, and He could have had 43 kids with her. So what? That doesn't do ANYTHING to disparage, or somehow lessen the importance of His teachings presented within the bible. Of course the naysayers would latch onto such factoids and use it to undermine, or otherwise tear into Christianity (they've been doing it for centuries, like they really need another excuse). The point is, no Christian secure in his/her beliefs has anything whatsoever to worry about this, even if it was proven to be 100% true! The church has become just that paranoid. They have more to worry about from the pedophiliac priests who are tearing down the church from the insides, than from this speculative work of fiction that only would add another, if somewhat unexpected, aspect to the life of Jesus, but not negate what is reported in the bible.
Btw, I am a Christian (even if, admittedly, I'm not always a model christian), and I'm also naturally paranoid, but even I feel the church has often gone way too far in it's own paranoias. God help us all...

I love you, Mom

I'd be remiss if I didn't at least acknowledge my mom on mothers day (well, a little late, but that's okay because I spent a good part of today prepping the floor for the new (used) stove, her mom's day present ;).

She doesn't actually read my blog, and I'm not here to impress anybody, so I won't go into details, but I do love my mother very much, and I'm greatful for everything she's done for me, and given me.

David Blaine: What in the Bloody Blue Blazes is wrong with this man?!

I didn't watch his special the other night, but how could you not hear about it? Every time this guy does some stunt, it's in the news for a week or more afterwards. I saw a special with him very early in his career, and he did some amazing stuff. Like walking the streets, and finding homeless people drinking coffee, and making their cups overflow with coinage. Also his "levitation" (as far as I know, from friends who practice such... trickery/deception (let's face it, that's what it mostly is, not real "magic" in the classic sense), only that levitation trick is repeatable. The others are still a mystery). But all of a sudden, this guy tried to become David Copperfield, only using himself instead of the Statue of Liberty or Space Shuttle. Is his ego THAT large that he must make such a public spectacle of himself for no reason? Even his latest stunt, the breath holding thing, why break the record?! The person who holds the record is a free diver (someone who dives fairly deep, but w/o any equipment), so it's a *practical* skill. He has no business trying to compete with that. You'll never see him going for the "most consecutive hours watching TV" record (for the record on that one, it's held by a couple of kids who broke it during the last summer olympics in 2004, and they did it in an IHOP restaurant!) because it just doesn't inflate his ego like the 'stamina' records do.

This guy went from respectable, entertaining and even amazing, to just needy and egotistical. I have doubts as to whether or not he and Donald Trump could even fit in the same building together...

A Sad day in Toonsville...

Now we know what happened to the cast of "the Little Mermaid". Let us bow our heads in a moment of silence.





Someone please pass the tartar sauce?

Of all the things...

They say wednesday is "hump day", but you know... I'm still waiting for proof.

Adventures in um... Cat stuff...

Last week (thursday to be precise) I took Cleo (my calico kitten) over my friends house. See, she's 8 months old, and she's gone through her first heat, and honestly, ugh! I mean, my other two cats (Shadoe, and Kitt who passed away last year) are female, and Shadoe wasn't spayed until she was 6 years old (and had a pyometra), and Kitt was never spayed, but they were kooky when they went into heat. They also had NO desire to go outside whatsoever. Cleo on the other hand, well, I have a harness and leash for her, and have to take her for walks (otherwise she'll try to escape whenever the door opens). And she was yowling. And she was LOUD. I mean, I took Pepper (doggie) for a walk across the street, and we could hear Cleo yowling.

We have had a great veterinarian for years, but unfortunately, they won't spay until the animal has an initial exam, stool sample and testing, vaccinations, Feline Leukemia and FAIDS testing, MINIMALLY. That's almost 400 dollars worth of tests/exams, before we even get to the 250 bucks for spaying. I couldn't afford that, but there's a great place called "Island Rescue" near where my friend lives, and it's where he took his cat to be spayed. Also, they vaccinate them, and give them a rabies shot when you bring them in for spaying. The cost of all this? 50 bucks! Truly a life saver. They encourage people to bring in strays/ferals as well (which is why it's so cheap, they're all about prevention, not profit). On top of that, the staff were extremely friendly and helpful.

So Cleo hated the cat carrier, and ripped up my hands trying to get out (I have 9 scars just on my left hand alone). But we stayed overnight at my friend's house, his cat wasn't happy. She was hissing and swiping at everyone. Early the next morning (you have to bring them in between 9am and 10am), we were there with Cleo in the carrier a few minutes to 9, and got in right away. What a brat she is. She totally freaks out in the car, even when covered, yet with a dog barking less than a foot away, she's sitting right at the front of the carrier watching it. Even when the vet took her in the back, she was at the front looking at the vet. So my friend and I just hung out, watched a Godzilla movie, went to a couple of stores, until 2:30pm, when it was time to pick Cleo up.

They said I couldn't let her out of the carrier until at least 7pm (this is friday night), and warned that the anesthesia often made cats cranky, and potentially agressive (since it's a disassociative anesthesia, they're not really certain of what's going on). Of course, I'm also supposed to keep her indoors for about 10 days, and limit her activity. The anesthetic is supposed to wear off in 24 hours as well.

Well, we went pretty far out on the island, to the Montauk lighthouse (about an hour and 15 minutes, approx. 65 miles east, one way, so 2.5 hours total trip), and didn't get back until almost 9pm. So, keeping Cleo isolated in my friends room (we weren't going to risk the trauma of the hour long trip home right after her already stressful day of surgery, so we stayed over friday night too), I opened the carrier, and offered her some water and a little food. She drank a little, didn't really eat much, but wouldn't you know it? The resilient little brat started exploring the room again! She walked a little drunkenly, but she seemed to be otherwise fully aware, and not cranky at all! I still put her back in the carrier for the night (didn't want her stumbling around in the dark), and she wanted to get out about 6:45am saturday morning (she had to use the litterbox), and she was reserved, but walking fine. I commented that she was supposed to be groggy for at least another 7 hours.

After that, she went back into the carrier, we slept a bit longer, then brought her home. Again, she complained :) She then slept most of the rest of saturday and sunday (I figured since we were in a strang/new place, for her at least, that she forced herself to stay awake a bit more, but once we got home she slept off the anesthesia).

Well, here it is now, early tuesday morning, and she's already done a couple of things she shouldn't, despite me trying to keep tabs on her. She tried to jump to the kitchen counter (eek!), and she's climbed partway up the wooden clothes dryer rack and gotten to the window. I still try to keep her from doing the really big things (like climbing up to the top bunk, or doing her "spider cat" impression), and I check her incision daily. She's such a strong willed little trooper, and yes, I do worry about her (at this point in my life, I figure she's probably the closest I'm going to get to actually having kids of my own).

The bonus? (aside from no more yowling and attracting male cats)

They trimmed (or capped) her claws :) She loves to tread on my arms (the milk treading habit they do to encourage the flow of milk from their mother during weening, after weening though it becomes a sign of closeness/affection in a way). But since she climbs a lot, she has long, strong claws, and unlike Shadoe who would tread with her claws fully retracted, Cleo just relaxes the muscles, so her claws are out. Often times I wind up with cuts, scratches, sore spots and even hives on my arms from this (and with her being so stubborn, I can't seem to discourage this habit). However, when she did carefully jump up on the bed this morning, and knead my arm, it was not only bearable, but actually pleasant! No "pin pricking", no sharp poking, or catching the skin. (When we got to my friends house thursday night, she still has some shreds of my skin under her claws. Ouch).

Yeah, I know, long winded post, but I'm just letting you all know how my weekend went and why I wasn't around.