• Blogging

    John pointed me to an article entitled “What We’re Doing When We Blog” by A-lister Meg Hourihan. I agree with most of what she says, but I disagree with the importance of timestamps on each post. Meg argues that seeing the exact time a weblog was updated allows the visitor to experience a sense of being “there” at the same time as the author and of having a real-time conversation. Long-time visitors will remember that I used to have timestamps, and indeed, they’re stored in the database for every post I’ve ever made. It’s a conscious choice not to show them. It started because I used to blog from work, and I decided it wouldn’t be prudent for people within the company to see how often I was doing it. I would guess that this is the case for most bloggers (who aren’t A-listers making a career out of this hobby). Even more importantly, what time zone do I use? I’m located in Australia, my server is located in the United States, and my visitors are located everywhere. Even if a reader hits the site two minutes after I post, what are the odds that they’re going to instantly be able to calculate the time difference? Meg’s idea that timestamps allow for a “powerful connection” only works if author and reader are in the same country. I suppose I could analyze visitors’ IP addresses and try to adjust the timestamps on the fly, but how accurate would that be? For us international types, it’s just more hassle than it’s worth.


  • Shmoopy

    Jhames wants us to spread the love today. You all know that I love the Snook (lord knows I talk about him enough!), but I wanted to publicly highlight some of the reasons why.

    • He tells me I’m pretty at least once a day. And he means it.
    • He always wakes up when I have a nightmare and gives me a hug.
    • He tells me he’s proud of me after my athletic endeavors.
    • We speak in a secret language of South Park, Buffy, and Star Wars quotes that no one else understands.
    • He’s smarter than me. I like not having a dumb boyfriend anymore.
    • We’re both slobs. The only nagging about housework is from my own guilty conscience.
    • He’s such a good cook. I’m not. Yet he always says what I make is good and eats every bite.
    • He enables my Harry Potter Trading Card addiction.
    • He never wants to “go out with the guys” by himself. Even if I try to stay home, he insists that I come along or “it won’t be any fun.”
    • He understands the things that piss me off (like bad HTML, insulting commercials, and inappropriate baby strollers).
    • He’s a very good father to our fish. 🙂
    • He’s my best friend.

    Okay, yeah, a little cheesy there. But I just wanted to show that there’s more to him than the cartoon-y bits you get here at my site. So go on, celebrate Love Day at your site. Put down the memes and quizzes for five minutes and spread some joy and beauty. Thanks to Michele for drawing my attention to this.


  • USA JUST SCORED THEIR SECOND GOAL! Man, this is a great game. That was such a sweet header. Of course, we’ll probably get our ass kicked by Germany, but just getting this far is fantastic.


  • Meet the Mets

    How about them Mets? They finally won a Subway Series! I know some Yankees fans who’re probably pretty pissed right now. I didn’t even realize David Wells was back on their team. I’m happy for the Mets, but mostly just because I like Mike Piazza and loathe that troglodyte Roger Clemens.


  • Do any of you watch Smallville? Is it any good, besides providing fodder for Clark Kent/Lex Luthor slash fiction? It’s going to be starting on TV here soon. We’re also getting the latest series of Dawson’s Creek and The Osbournes too. How great is Australian television? Answer: very.


  • My fellow webloggers – do you ever get Blog Crushes? This is a new term I have invented. It refers to the period after you discover a new blog that you love and start visiting daily and then find yourself reading all the archives and commenting on every single item. That’s how I am with Claire right now. It’s like when you make a new friend and just totally click and get momentarily obsessed with them. Her post about skin care products cracked my shit up. (I sound like a Blog Stalker, don’t I?) 🙂


  • Once again Ebert answers the questions enquiring minds want to know: Who would win in a fight – James Bond or Ethan Hunt (from Mission Impossible)? I think he gets it wrong, personally.


  • How great are the Senegal team? The Snook and I watched their marvelous victory last night and then headed out to dinner. We were sitting by the window in the restaurant when a parade of Senegalese in six cars drove through Newtown, honking their horns and waving the flag. Everyone on the streets cheered. Later we saw they were having an impromptu celebratory rally by the church on King Street. Man, I love it when an underdog wins!


  • This is it! I’m hydrated and rarin’ to go for the big race. Stay tuned for pictures and results. Wish me luck!

    Update: I did it! Well, sorta. The course was actually pretty hard and I had to walk the last couple of hills. I think my increased pace from the “race day adrenaline” made up for it, though, because my time was pretty much the same as it was on the treadmill (despite my unfamiliarity with running outdoors and the pounding heat from the sun). Here are the official results, which show me coming in at 356th out of 663 participants. (Note that I was just beaten by a ten-year-old. Sheesh.) I was disappointed that I had to walk at all, but the Snook pointed out that everybody except the first few runners had to walk the last hill. So that made me feel better. And I was definitely not last. There were hundreds of women running, jogging, and walking, and it felt good just to be out there among them challenging myself.

    Before the race     Sprinting to the finish     Picking up the prizes

    The first is good ol’ number 7929 before the race. (My tummy is really not that round, I swear. It’s the shirt.) I’m squinting because although it’s only 8:30 a.m., the sun is bright and it’s already above 70 degrees. The second is me sprinting towards the finish line. My mouth is open because I’m trying to yell “I’m going to die!” at the Snook but I lack the moisture to form the words. The last is me after the race, wearing my little “participation” medal and picking up my goodie bag of drinks and power bars. Man, it felt good to be done. That was seriously one of the hardest things I’ve done in years.


  • Anybody know where I can get one of those big silver “K” earrings Kylie wears in the “Love at First Sight” video?? 🙂



ABOUT

My name is Kris. I’ve been blogging since the 90’s. I live in Sydney, Australia, and I spent most of my career in the tech industry.

No AI used in writing this blog, ever. 100% human-generated.


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