./janella.com

Ugh, I’m on a blog improvement kick.

No, I’m not thinking of messing with the layout. I think I’m pretty happy with how the page and functions overall. I guess I’m looking to add those bonus features and little touches here and there.

I’ve been checking out other people’s blogs lately, trying to find something else to add, some little feature. For instance: on a [co-worker’s blog] he’s got a little radio/mp3 player deal going (see the launch vp player) . I suppose it’s cool if your visitors have a broadband connection, but not all my visitors listen to the same type of music. I played with putting one on the site, but don’t think it’s beneficial.

If you haven’t noticed, I chose to implement a little random picture in the sidebar. It was an idea I got from all those PHP-Nuke blogs/websites. It’s neat in the fact that it’s only showing images from the public directory. There are two problems though: (1) I don’t have too many pictures in the public directory so a lot of the same photos are appearing, and (2) if something goes wrong with the picture gallery this home page may load slowly or not at all. Guess I’ll need to work on that little gimmick.

Oh well more surfing in search of the next thing to add.

Why do I blog?

I’ve been thinking about it the last couple of weeks. I guess because I do it so infrequently while others make it a daily ritual. I wonder how they do it, how the create the daily blog to share with others - or possibly no one.

There are many reasons to blog and many people who are doing it. From [political] blogs to blogs about [porn] to [infamous] blogs and blogs by [friends]. There are blogs created by many people for many different reasons.

These are some basic reasons why I blog:

• To announce news for all to know
• Inform visitors of website updates
• Share a cool webpage
• Share my opinion on a movie, tv show, event, or book (LOL - I said book!?!?)

But then comes the talk-y reason. The blah blog blah blog blah blah reasons. You know the blogging moments when you have a thought in the middle of the night about how to solve the Middle East crisis or when you just have to share your thoughts about the guy you saw in traffic picking his nose. Those types of moments. The long blog.

Most of the time I blog just to hear myself…blog. I find blogging similar to a certain annoying person at work. This person, in a cubicle environment, will out of nowhere ask a question or make a statement. Not to anyone in particular, but to anyone who will listen. I know, [I shouldn’t blog about work]. When I write this down I hope someone reads it. I really appreciate when someone responds with thoughts, but really don’t expect much. Thanks Scott for putting in some words about U2 (more on this later).

It’s not like I’m pouring my heart out here for all to read. I’m not sure if I can do that or reveal that much of myself online. I don’t by any means consider this a journal of thoughts, a definitive outline of who I am. When I blog I know I’m holding something back. It’s like [Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle] as dumbed down for the television masses - so I could understand it.

If I understood it correctly, an object may change its action/reaction, just by the fact it is being observed. So the object (in this case the blogger - me) might write differently knowing this might be read. I guess I’m saying I’m a little cautious of what I write, self censoring, with inadvertent thoughts slipping here and there. So I shouldn’t get fired for talking about people at work, right? Naw, better not take that chance.

When blogging becomes fun - for me - is when I hear from someone, like Scott who I mentioned earlier. Scott and I haven’t talked in a very long time. The last time we exchanged email was when Seth was born last August. I haven’t met Seth, or Skylar for that matter, but I think about them often. I also think of Scott and Stefanie as well. Imagine my surprise and very genuine joy to see a posting from Scott on a little blog I made of my U2 buying experience. Yeah Scott, I know, I should just call and we should get together. But life has a way of keeping us busy, especially now for some reason. I’m glad you stop by and read the page every so often.

But I guess the main reason I blog is just to get thoughts out of my head. And so this thought was about “why do I blog”. An now this line of thought is out of my head and on this page to read.

There are many free places to blog. There is the original [Blogger.com] - owned by Google, [LiveJournal.com], [Xanga.com], and the photo blog in beta [flickr.com]. I’ve tried Blogger.com and flickr.com, and I think I have a test account on LiveJournal but haven’t really used itl. All-in-all they are pretty straightforward and don’t require you do much - not even pay! How do they do that?

If you have your own website hosted somewhere, and you can install software, you might consider [WordPress] or [Movable Type]. Hosting your own blog gives you a little more control over look and feel, as well as keeping the content local. The software is free, with WordPress having less (=no) restriction on the freedom, while Movable Type does have some restrictions. They both are good packages, but I find WordPress much easier to install, configure, modify/customize and reinstall if necessary.

Well, time for bed. Back to the daily grind tomorrow, and perhaps another blog entry.

Rating: **** of 5

Quick Shot: World War I love story.  Audrey Tautou is the Mathilde to Gaspard Ulliel Manech in this magical journey to find each other.  Or do they?

What I liked about the movie: The cinematography and direction was very impressive.  Audrey Tautou is adorable as ever.

What I didn’t like: A little long (2 hours 14 minutes give or take), most of it setting up the story in the first third of hte film.  I thought the last third was a little rushed as things fell into place.  I wasn’t expecting some graphic elements of war, but they were needed to drive the story.

This morning Farrah and I took a whack at trying to buy U2 tickets on [Ticketmaster.com]. I’m usually the only one trying to get tickets, but since there was a hard limit on the number of tickets one could buy, both Farrah and I tried.

Well, 10 AM came around. We started trying to get tickets on both the laptop and desktop, entering in the amount carefully and just waiting for the results. We couldn’t get tickets for the first show, which sold out in less than ten minutes. I knew there was a second show, so we waited for it to be posted.

We only had to wait about ten minutes. We tried over and over again to get (at the least) two general admission tickets - which were going for $49. Seats, which are an ok view, were topped out at $160! Well, Farrah managed to get two tickets. Me - shutout! I did get one screen opportunity to buy, but the tickets were seated and high above the show. I must be losing my touch! Well, at least we’ll be able to see U2. I only wish we got two more tickets for friends.

What’d you think, I was going to sell them?

The Girl Scouts are back to spread their good cheer by selling you those evil cookies. Yeah, my niece is one of them ! I put down some money to buy at least one box of each type available this year. Now, you want to know the price you’re going to pay when you eat one of those cookies? Take a look at [this website] for the nutritional facts.

Now enjoy those cookies.

Not much happening this weekend. I think we’re still recovering from the holiday season. I’ve still got a little cough/congestion going. What is that now, a month? I think it’s going away, but very slowly.

We’ve been spending a lot of time catching up on the Tivo’d shows as well as movies we haven’t watched. Farrah’s been a little ahead of mean watching movies so her more recent movie knowledge is better than mine! We have almost even picked books we have to read (e.g. The Da Vinci Code, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, The Life of Pi, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, etc.) from our bookshelf. May be today we’ll do it.

One of the things I’ve been doing the last two days is rating artists at [launch.yahoo.com]. If you use Launch to listen to music - which you can either through the website or through Yahoo! Messenger - rating artists helps in serving up those songs and similar songs into your radio station. Right now - at this moment - I think that’s pretty cool. I think what will make it better is when Launch’s catalog becomes bigger, allowing for a wider range of music. But for now it will do.

Oh well this is it for now. Farrah has made breakfast (wow, I know) so it’s time to eat.

Rating:**** out of 5

Quick Shot: Vince Vaughn plays the underdog/hero gym owner trying to save his gym from the evil (and hilarious) Ben Stiller.  So how can Vince save the gym?  By entering a dodgeball tournament!

What I liked about the movie: Ben Stiller, who’s in about every other movie made right now, is just funny as hell!  Way better than his turn in Starsky and Hutch.

What I didn’t like: Nothing. It was the perfect DVD to pop in and just laugh away.  Ok, maybe the bit with the pizza was too much but…nah, it was a very funny movie.

Ugh, this cold is still hanging on. It’s coming up on the worst part: the running nose and coughing. It supposed to be a good sign - a clearing of the system. It just feels annoying and uncomfortable to go through.

The only plan on the board is to watch the big football game on Sunday - the Colts at the Patriots - and to watch the Golden Globes later that night. Like I said, no big plans this weekend. Rest and recovery.

Ok, maybe I’ll put some time to getting some more older pictures up on the site.

I got a little stuffy nose action happening these last couple of days. I think I’m sick again! I was sick Christmas week. I managed to take three days off during that week - getting better the Sunday after Christmas. But that didn’t last long.

The next week, the last week of December going into New Year’s Eve, one of my lymph nodes decided to work overtime. It got a little large on the side of my neck and felt uncomfortable for two days. And now these sniffles.

I think the first two were related instances are related but this new round may be something else. Either way I’m grumpy and tired but can’t fall asleep at the moment. It’s just not fun feeling sick.

And so I surf. I see the new pictures of the [iPod Shuffle] on Apple’s site. It’s a sweet little music player smaller than a stick of gum. The difference between the Shuffle and full blown iPod is (1) size/amount of songs it can hold, and (2) it has no display to see what song is playing. It’s a cool little gadget. But I’m a little more interested in the [Mini Mac].

The Mini Mac is basically a Mac box without monitor, keyboard and mouse. You need to buy those items yourself. But the Mini Mac looks cool and comes with a lot of essential software for editing video, photos and music. I’m sure Apple will do well in grabbing some desktop users with that Mini Mac because of its looks and pricing.

Happy New Year!!!!! Have a happy 2005!

Merry Christmas to all!!!

A Christmastime. Farrah, my mom and I went to see Kayla’s play a Christmas in Egypt. Kayla played the part of Delta, an Egyptian with a southern accent. She was one of three southern belle types. The other two were named Cleopatty and … oh, the name escapes me now. In any event, Kayla’s performance was fantastic.

Afterward we went to the Traber’s residence for birthday cake to celebrate Farrah’s upcoming birthday.

Oh its been a short weekend for me. I had to work yesterday because a co-worker needed to take one of their floating holidays before the end of the year. He has one more to take this year so looks like I’ll be working another Saturday soon.

Last night Farrah and I also went to my company’s year end party (called YEP) in San Francisco. It was held at 7th and Brannen in the City as it has been for the last several years. It was pretty cool: food, drinks, fake gambling, and great music. The main music was provided by [Ozomotli who rocked the house! Too bad they came on later in the evening when our feet were already killing us because of walking!!!

Anyway, there are so many things to write about, especially some things from Thanksgiving weekend. I’ll need to find some time to write about more later. Right now I should get to bed. Work tomorrow, y' know.