wavesoflife

This has been a strange past hour. A little before 6 I left to go to my parents for dinner. The sky was getting pretty dark but I didn’t think much of it. We’ve been having lots of storms lately. Then, when I got to my parents, the sky was black. I thought I saw a cloud in the sky that was kind of…swirling. I didn’t think much of it at the time.

My parents had the news on, as usual. The whole half hour ended up being devoted to the storm. There was a tornado watch from about 5:45 till 6:45. They were calling for very high winds and very heavy rain. It was interesting watching the storm hit. The sky got even blacker and the wind really picked up. Then a minute later the rain just came pouring down.

We didn’t have any problems at my parent’s house, but there sure were problems elsewhere. They had viewer call-ins on the news. A tree went into a person’s house and the house caught on fire. Streets in Harrisburg were underwater and lots of stoplights were out. People reported several tornado sightings. One such tornado that they reported actually touched down a few miles from my parents. The tornado started to form pretty much the time I arrived at my parents, in the direction I was looking, so that swirly cloud might actually have been the tornado forming. I’ve never seen a tornado before or been near one. We hardly ever get tornados here. Tornados really frighten me. However, it was cool to possibly see one. Although at the time I saw it I didn’t think tornado since they’re so rare here. I just thought “ooh swirly cloud! neat!”.

The storm only lasted about a half hour, as storms tend to do. I left a different way than usual because the way I usually go often gets flooded when it rains (it’s under a railroad bridge and there’s a huge dip in the road there with no drains). It’s a good thing I did. The police had that part of the road blocked off. There was a car stuck in the water under the bridge.

I stopped at Borders on the way home. Mom had let me borrow money to get my book. There were two copies left on the table (of course they might have had more…) but I was pleased to see that it was selling well. I hadn’t been extremely excited about getting this book, even though I obviously wanted it. The last book had such a weird disturbed ending that I was left with a bad taste in my mind. But when I saw the cover, I mentally squealed and now can’t wait to read it, which I’m about to do in a few minutes.

As you can see below, I decided to implement Photomatt’s Asides code. I created two different ones: one for sidetracks and one for photos. I only added the code to display a certain style based on the category. I didn’t really want it to rearrange the order of the posts. Maybe this will inspire me to post more photos. I also don’t plan to use the sidetracks just for links. I might also use it for short posts.

(blog survey from nikkiana)

Ethics/Personal Life:
Has a blog post ever got you into trouble?
Not in trouble per se but I’ve had something happen that I wasn’t happy about. I’m referring to Joe’s mom finding out about our engagement before we told her through his sister reading my site. We were really upset about that because we had been waiting to tell her in person which was why we hadn’t told her already. I was also upset that she had been reading my site.

How many people do you know face-to-face who read your weblog?
Just Joe. And possibly his sister, but hopefully she’s stopped reading this. I just don’t feel comfortable having her reading this. I know it’s online for public display but I’m careful about not using my full name and only give the url to people I only know online. I really don’t want anyone other than Joe who I know in person reading this. And of course my online friends that I’ve met in person.

Do you modify or delete posts? How often? Why?
I modify all the time for grammer or spelling errors. I don’t ever delete posts. If I’ve just posted and forgotten to say something, I’ll add it, but otherwise I don’t add to posts.

How much is your weblog a part of your personal identity? Do you feel like people who don’t know about your blog don’t really know you?
I wouldn’t say my weblog itself is, but my websites as a collection are a big part of my personal identity. I spend so much time working on them that it’s bound to be. I don’t feel like people who don’t know about my blog (or sites) don’t really know me. My family doesn’t know about my blog or most of my sites and they definately know me.

How has blogging changed your life?
Not much really. Online journalling is what really changed my life. Most of my friends online are ones I made through journalling.

Technical/Design:
Do you know how to code at all? Did you learn how to code by blogging?
Considering I’ve had websites since 1996 and only been blogging since 2000, I’d say yes I know how to code and no, I did not learn by blogging.

What weblogging tool do you use and why?
I use WordPress because I feel it’s the best. I started out using Blogger, moved to greymatter, then to Movable Type, then to WordPress (for this weblog anyway). I’ve used pmachine and b2 for other weblogs elsewhere. I’ve also used livejournal and tabulas as well as deadjournal, parajournal, and ujournal. Livejournal was the only one I really posted in a lot. Ocassionally I’ll post there still, but prefer to post in my own weblog.

Is your design an integral part of your writing and presentation?
Design is very important to me (which is why I’m a digital design major). I don’t enjoy reading people’s weblogs who just have the default template. It’s just too generic. If a weblog has a good design, I’m more likely to read it. Which is why I try to make my design the best I can.

How many times have you changed your weblog design entirely (or nearly so)?
Well, I don’t change weblog designs. I change my entire site’s design. This is version 17 of this domain, which I started in October 1999. I often leave a design up for 3-5 months. Sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. I’ve had this design up since March 21 and have no idea when I’ll change it.

Readership/Motivation:
How many people would you guess (educated guess based on hit counts/logfiles) read your weblog on a weekly basis at least?
The average visitors per day is 144. I have no idea how many people actually read my weblog. I know of maybe 5 people who read it regularly. Hey, if you read this pretty often, comment and let me know!

What have you done to get more people to look at your site?
Nothing really. Most of the people who find my site that I don’t already know find it through links from friends or through google.

What one or two characteristics make a blog really popular?
Lots of readers ;)

What really popular weblog do you think most deserves it?
I don’t read any *really* popular weblogs.

Influence of Other Bloggers:
What other blogger is most responsible for you starting your own weblog?
I really can’t remember. It’s been a little over 4 years and have no idea who first out of my circle of journalling friends signed up with blogger. It was back when weblogs really were just weblogs and were links to interesting sites. Strange how weblogs evolved into a more personal nature.

Who was the first other blogger (that you know of) who put you on their sidebar?
No idea. Probably whoever of my friends was first to make a sidebar. Krissy maybe?

What other blogger do you most admire for their writing skills?
I admire every one of the people I read’s writing skills. I don’t read anyone who can’t write well.

What other blogger do you most admire for their design skills?
I admire everyone in that even if they don’t have the most spectular complex design, there’s always some little detail that makes their site theirs. I love how people evolve their own design style.

Who is a blogger you think is really good but doesn’t get nearly the attention they are worthy of?
All of the ones I read!

Do you feel obligated to link people who you never read?
Not really. I usually read everyone who links to me though so it’s not really a problem. My only problem is forgetting to update my links with new reads or urls. My current one is kind out of date.