Fat Pipe Jazz

Blog Heaven

I got the Over the Counter blog functioning this weekend. I like the look of it, kind of. I'm sure I'll keep tweaking and changing (what's the web about, if not change?) but I feel it's ready for prime time in the column. I've now set up three of these in as many weeks, although the jury is still out on whether or not the legislative page for MCVEF is actually going to go live.

The Second Coolest of the Planets

Only because supporting life has to be cooler than rings...

birdsill.com

Well, I'm finally famous. I have birdsill.com online. I finished the demo for RespectMontana.org and now I can get back to doing the Over the Counter blog and get my columns back in print. I have two fears about the OTC blog - a good news/bad news type of scenario. The bad news would be that no one uses it so it's a flop, the good news would be that it's a success and I don't have time to respond and keep up with it. Poor me.

A masthead prototype for the upcoming Over the Counter blog. I need a better aquarium picture, but I think the idea is going to gel.

I decided as long as I'm trying everything out, I might as well see what this extended entry jazz is all about. I read about it and it makes sense, but I also should have gone everywhere and tried everything about this site that I can before I go live.

Time Flies

It's been a week almost since my last entry. I see the same thing happening here that happens with my "real" journal writings - they just won't do themselves! It really is no big deal, because I know this is a practice realm that I am using to get familiar with the system so I can apply it to the real life situations I have in mind. Still, I do need to establish some content so I have something to work with and experiment on, so I'll try to keep plugging away.

The aftermath begins

The day after election day, and the public, as ususal, while bitching about the way things are, votes to make it worse, or at least keep it the same in many instances. It looks like MCV won a fair number of the races we endorsed in, but lost a few too. My more immediate concern is the chaos that will seep in now that Mary Ann is gone. There is any irony in my job at MCV that isn't lost on me here. I got a Poli-Sci degree when I was in college because, at the time, I still thought the political process wasn't totally slimy. Now, I want to work with computers and web design, and so here I am. Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it - ALL of it.

Election Day

And Mary Ann's last day of employment at MCV. I would hope that election day is the end of the hectic schedule, but I feel it really is just the beginning. I dread the thought of working through the legislature. It was just finishing when I started at MCV in march of 2001, and I remember how chaotic and frenzied it was. While Theresa seems to thrive in the environment, everyone else was worn to a frazzle when I started. Shannon the intern reported she was occasionally driven to tears from the stress, demands, and criticism. Come on Rocky placement services, do your stuff!

Monday Morning

It's 6:30 am and I've been up for half an hour already. I'd blame it on not being able to adjust to the change from daylight savings time, but I was waking up early before the switch last week, too. It really is a good thing to wake up early now days, because I have too many irons in the fire to spend time on excess sleep. I've got lots of homework in Java and Cisco, I'm resurrecting Over the Counter for FAMA, work is busy, we're trying to get some more done on the sun room, and meanwhile, I find myself wanting to play around with this blog. Who's got time to sleep?

Blog On, Dude

After a long weekend, I have a blog up and functioning with Movable Type. The installation was pretty straight forward and easy, but configuring it took awhile to figure out. I will undoubtedly change the look, feel, and content of the whole thing drastically in the weeks to come. I reused my old jazz theme just to get rid of the template heading and make a start at personalization. It'll do for a bit, but I really want to do something completely new. This whole blog is really just an experimental area to learn and refine some things I think I could translate to my magazine column and to the MCV website for the upcoming legislature. I think the whole interactive aspect of the blog with comments and discussions is one of the most appealing and intriguing uses of the web I've seen. Well, at least it's more productive than porn and easier on the pocket book than Amazon.com!