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Finding Your Way Around My Blog Part 2

September 4, 2006 By

Since I wrote the last post on this, things have changed quite a bit. First, I moved the sidebar from the right to the left. I added lots more content in my sidebar. Then I changed the template completely. (Officer Friend was in the middle of reading my blog when that happened – he refreshed the page to a whole new design. Threw him for a loop!) So now, here’s an updated version of how to navigate my blog.

Posts: These are still on the right hand side of my blog, and are the all important content that keeps you coming back for more. I try to update daily, but there’s a bare minimum of 5x per week. I am a blog addict, you know.

Sidebar: Still on the left, and is the home to information, links, and other fun stuff. Here’s a breakdown:

  • About Me: Basic information about me.
  • Search My Blog: What it says.
  • Subscribe to My Blog: For those of you into feeds and blog subscriptions. Click on this and you’ll be able to choose what feed source you use.
  • Time at My House/Weather at My House: Just in case you wanted to know.
  • Stuff I’ve Mentioned: Sometimes I mention things in my posts that you might be curious about, so I’ve put links to those things here. If there’s something I mentioned that I didn’t link to, just comment me and I’ll add it.
  • Blogs I Like: This is exactly that. These may or may not link back to me, and may or may not be written by people I know personally, but I like to read them for reasons I may not even know myself.
  • Blogging Blogs: I separated out the blogs about blogging, just so they’re easier to find. These usually have some helpful information, and the first one listed has a page for cool blog add-ons, for those who are looking for them.
  • Find Me On the Internet: These are other websites I can be found on. They might be other pages or certain forums that I’ve been known to post on.
  • Button Crazy: I discovered the joy of 80×15 buttons. To keep my page looking neater, they are all here in this one spot. They all link to something (except the first one) and you are free to right click and save them to use on your own sites. There’s also a link to a page that has over 3700 buttons already made so you can get more if you’re as in love with these cute buttons as I am.
  • Favorite Posts: This is where I put a few posts up that people might want to find again in the future. Since my page only displays 10 posts at a time, once they are gone people rarely look in the archives to find something. So those posts are here for your convenience. If there’s a post you liked or want to refer to often, comment me and I’ll add it.
  • Old Posts: Basically, the 10 most recent posts, which are also the posts that haven’t yet fallen off the page.
  • Even Older Posts: AKA the archives. You can go through here to read all of my posts, month by month.
  • Miscellaneous Stuff: This is a repository for anything that doesn’t fit into any of the above categories. This is where my hit counters, calendar, quotes, and other things are located. Included are a link to search amazon.com, free word and quote of the day, hangman (which I love playing), typing test (I score between 60-80 wpm depending on how flustered I feel), and a Magic 8 ball to ask questions of. Other fun things may appear here in the future.

Currently my sidebar goes about 3/4 of the way down my page, and I’m aiming to make it approximately as long as my page. Any longer than that would be annoying, I think. Plus, I think I’ve nearly exhausted my sources for this kind of stuff.

So there you have it, the new and improved guide to my blog. I hope you enjoy it, and I certainly welcome any comments you might have.

Updated 8/19/10: This post refers to my old Blogspot blog. Some of it may not be relevant anymore.

Filed Under: My Blog

Batteries not Included

September 3, 2006 By

I thought yesterday went too well. It was very unusual to get everything on my list done, with time to spare. Well, this morning I went thru my regular Sunday morning routine, and left to go to church. I got in the car, turned the key, and nothing. Great. Just what I need. So I called the station that I had my car smogged and oil changed at 2 days ago, but they don’t offer battery service. They gave me the number to the nearest station that does (it’s a chain), which is actually closer to my house than the first place. It’s only a block away, so I could walk, if necessary. The guy there took pity on my since I don’t even have AAA to get a jump, and convinced his boss to let him come out to my to jumpstart my car. Boy did it sound rough when it got started. See, here in Las Vegas batteries don’t last too long. I’m used to a 5 year life, but to get 3 years out of it like I did was sheer luck. Anyway, I drove to the station and got my battery changed, and also redeemed the free car wash coupon I had from the other day. Service there is pretty good, I must say. But I missed church, there’s just no way I’m gonna get there on time now, so back home it is. At least I have a few hours to blog, and I can have a nice homemade lunch instead of eating out.

Funny thing – I bought that car 3 years ago this weekend. And the new battery is warranted for 3 years, but with my luck it will probably die out the day after the warranty expires. Like it matters, because I don’t plan on being anywhere near a Terrible’s Lube in 3 years.

Time to read some more blogs and watch a bit of tv before going to work at Job#2. Tonite, since I don’t have to be up for anything tomorrow, I plan on going to a local casino to see if my card is the 1 out of 200,000 that were mailed out that’s the winner of $1,000,000. I could really use that, but chances are it’s not me. At least I’ll have a bit of fun tonite.

Filed Under: Car

It Wasn’t Him

September 2, 2006 By

I just got off the IM with Bubba, and he says it wasn’t him. He has 2 AIM accounts, and as soon as I said one thing that this alleged other person said, Bubba said he thinks he knows who it was. So he’s gonna use the other account almost exclusively for awhile, and if I see Bubba on the old account I’ll let him know. I knew he would never talk to me like that, and I also knew he’d be dead to the world at 1am. Whoever it was had no idea he was talking to his beloved Aunty. I thought the whole thing was weird. He also said he never gave out his password to anyone, so I suggested that he change it. I told him that even if you don’t tell anyone sometimes people have programs on their computers to capture this stuff, and if he used the computer at someone else’s house thats how they would have gotten his pw. So we’ll see how it goes. I added this alleged IM thief to my buddy list, so if I see him online I might have a bit of fun with him, and if I see Bubba signed on to his old account at odd hours, I’ll definitely have fun with it. Bubba’s supposed to let me know it’s him if he’s on there.

Today I made a list of things I had to do, and guess what – I did them all! That is so rare. I usually make a list with the intention of doing everything but end up getting so late in the day that things don’t get done. I feel so accomplished today. Now I have time to just sit back, play on the computer, eat dinner, and get to bed at a decent hour feeling pretty relaxed. And since I’m off Monday, I’ll use that time to get a bunch of stuff done around the house. I’m getting really motivated to get it done, so I hope Monday turns out as well as today did. One can only hope.

That’s about it for today. I hope you are all still enjoying my new template; I know I am. It’s just so freaking beautiful! I go on and read my own blog just to look at it. No, I’m not vain at all. Really.

Filed Under: Family

Direspectful Credit Card in Common

September 1, 2006 By

I got out of work an hour early, so I used that time to get my car smogged and the oil changed before going home. I also got the air filter changed since it was disgusting, and bought new wiper blades because the 1 time a year I use them I’m gonna find out they’re rotted and won’t be able to find any anywhere because the other 1.8 million people in this city are all in the same boat. It’s been about a year since I had them changed anyway. So I got all that done, went home and got the mail. I opened the credit card bill (the smaller card that Dad doesn’t know I have) and I see a charge on there. Now, I’m not really using this card anymore except for my storage unit, so there should only be payments and storage on there. But I also saw a $10 charge for ENETS-SUNSHINE TELE SINGAPORE. Um, weird. I don’t recall going to Singapore recently. So I called the card company. When I told the guy what the mysterious charge was, he looked at it on my account and said, “Yeah, I’ve had quite a few of those today. Let me transfer you to the fraud department.” Just what I need. I am super careful with my credit card. This particular one isn’t used online, ONLY in person, and it never even leaves my house. To keep from using this and others, I keep them locked in a safe place far away from my purse. So that account is now closed and paperwork to start a fraud investigation is on its way, to be followed by a new card with a new account number. Something tells me the fraud is at Credit Card Company, since the guy there recognized the charge and knew it was fraudulent. Oh, and get this – apparently there is also a charge that I’ve yet to be billed for from something called ACHAT. Hmmm, I wonder what the A stands for? I checked my other accounts and there was nothing unusual on them, so this breach was definitely not from my own carelessness. I can’t wait to see what this so-called fraud investigation uncovers. In the meantime, if any news comes out following a data breach at Chase Credit Cards, then I’m gonna be really pissed off.

I still have to register the car, but I relized that paying for it out of my checking would leave me just $10 for the next week. Not acceptable. So I’ll put that on the credit card Dad does know about and is helping me pay down. I figure he’ll be less pissed about that versus gas and groceries (aka daily living expenses) going on it.

And, maybe, just maybe, I can get a promotion and possible raise at Job#2. AJ is a keyholder, and is getting really burned out since she’s been doing that, along with her full-time job as a mom, plus her candy and digiscrap shops on the side, she’s just exhausted. Plus her husband was never thrilled wtih the idea of her working since she works nights and never sees him. So I will casually bring up a conversation about it with Shoe Boss. I mean, right now I do like having a second job that I don’t have to think at, but it would be a bit more money, a few more hours (about 2 more per week than I do now) and would put me in a slightly better financial position (pay off cards and prepare for future plans). My availability doesn’t change at all, so I’m not sure I can give Shoe Boss what she needs, but she did offer me the position a few years ago when I turned in my notice and another keyholder quit the next day. She and I both know there are no doubts about my ability to do the job. And it might be easier for Shoe Boss to hire another regular salesperson than to hire a keyholder, so it might make perfect sense. AJ would also be willing to go down to a salesperson position, so we’ll see. I’ll let you know how the conversation goes.

My mom ran up my phone bill tonite – nearly 1/5 of my minutes in one conversation. Gotta be conservative with the phone, don’t want to go over again. Actually, this was a two-sided conversation that started with discussions about her quick home sale. She’s going looking tomorrow and will let me know how that goes. This will be different, that’s for sure.

As I’m sitting here writing this post, something weird happened. My 13-yr-old nephew Bubba signed onto AIM. The weird part is that it’s nearly 1am where he is, and I know he should be asleep. That boy sleeps like a log, so I don’t believe that he’d wake up in the middle of the night and go online, or even be up this late with one of his friends. Someone needs to have a talk with him – check this out:

Kirsten: someone’s up past their bedtime
BUBBA: hye whats up
BUBBA: hye whats up
Kirsten: not much u
Kirsten: I’m blogging
Kirsten: as usual
Kirsten: what are you doing up so late
BUBBA: masterbating
Kirsten: scuse me
BUBBA: jk wrong im
Kirsten: have you gotten that talk yet?
BUBBA: nope will u tell me
BUBBA: lol
Kirsten: seriously kid, what are you doing
BUBBA: nothing
BUBBA: just chilling
Kirsten: with whom
BUBBA: me myself and i
Kirsten: well you’re not sounding like the bubbaloo I know
BUBBA signed off at 9:57:21 PM.

Now, I do realize that at 13 years old he will be a bit curious and want to talk about that – I mean, I’ve seen his MySpace. But no way in heck would he ever be that disrespectful towards his Aunty. The scariest thing was that just before he signed off, I was about to tell him to not be disrespecting his aunt like that. What was so scary about it was that I was going to use the exact words and tone that my sister, Bubba’s mom, would use. Which means that my sister and I are – *gasp* – no,no, it can’t be – but it is – we’re ALIKE!!!!! Two people who are as different as night and day and even less complimentary, yet somehow born of the same two people, actually have something in common besides parents. Shit.

Now that I’ve spent waaaayyyy too much time on the phone with my mom, and as usual too much time blogging, I must eat dinner before Friday turns into Saturday and dinner becomes breakfast. And, even though I did manage to remember to get my car smogged today, I do have a few errands to do tomorrow, including the just-added Go To Storage Unit Place and Change Credit Card Payments (before the 10th when my next automatic payment comes out and I’m charged extra for it being rejected).

Filed Under: Grrr, Work