Cleaning House
(graphic found here)
I’ve been cleaning up the old blog a bit lately. Still need to find a few missing friends for my blogroll, I think. Interesting to me to look at it, and see how few of these people actually come here and comment anymore. I don’t know if they’re too busy to comment, but still read, or if they don’t read my blog anymore, or if they read me on a reader, or what. I thought of taking a few off for that reason, figuring that blogging is sort of a reciprocal thing, a community. Then I thought, no, I’m not in it for comments, I’m in it because I love to come here and write, and I love to go and read what you all have written. So I won’t pull anyone that doesn’t know I exist. Not that they’d notice.
I used to keep my book reviews on my sidebar, but that got lost when I updated my theme. I didn’t even update to a new theme, just updated to a more recent version. But anyway, the sidebar was getting unwieldy, so I decided to make a whole new page for my book reviews. There’s a tab there at the top, and if you’re interested in seeing what I’ve read, and if you might be interested in reading some of the same books or not, that’s where you’ll find the easiest access. Of course, you could also just select the ‘books’ category, but then you’d have to page through all of the book blog posts, so this is a lot easier.
Then more recently, I’ve noticed that I’ve been coming here to find recipes, rather than hunting around in my cupboard or trying to squeeze in to the closet behind the carpet cleaner, vacuum cleaner, and paper towels to find a recipe. I can no longer remember which cookbooks were destroyed by our leaky bathtub, and as I find more recipes online, I have a file full of printed webpages, which is not the least bit organized, so finding a recipe can be a pain in the butt. So I decided to make a page here on my blog, where I can find all of my old recipes in one handy place. Good thinking, no?
Not sure what other changes I’ll be making. I’m kinda fed up with this admin side of it. Maybe I’ll take a break, now that it’s not looking quite so crappy. 🙂
9 Comments
Starshine
Cleaning house (blog) is a good thing! It looks nice and clean around here!
When you and I first met through our blogs, I was blogging daily, couldn’t get enough of it, and had so much to say/write.
Now, blogging has a different place in my life. It is still something I love and enjoy, and I LOVE to hear what my friends (like you!) are up to, but I don’t feel like I’ve had as much to write about daily.
I’ve loved documenting our adoption on our adoption blog, and I imagine that with two boys entering our life, I’ll have a whole lot to write about very soon (or at least cute photos to post regularly!).
Even if I’m not commenting here as often as I used to, please know that I love you and that you hold a special place in my heart. And most importantly…I consider you my friend!!!
CG
Even though I don’t comment often, I still read your blog everyday. It’s one way to visit you.
Dad Who Writes
I like the new look – much cleaner and easier to find things. Comments are interesting things. I tend to automatically (as demonstrated!) check in on some who’s left a comment. I’ll almost invariably ‘wave’ or dig around to find a post that interests me if they’re some I ‘know'(like you). Or chime in on the current post if I’ve got something to say. I’m a lot more ruthless about ignoring blogs that don’t grab my attention now though. I mean, I don’t blog for the popularity – if my blog was wildly popular I’d obvioiusly be doing something wrong. I blog because I like to write and network a little with like-minded souls, people who overlap with me a little but (and that’s the core delight of blogging) are otherwise very different.
Take the Venn chart between you and me, for example. We read mostly different books but we read seriously. We’re similar ages but at very different stages of parenting. Long term relationships that still seem to be running with some success (yes, you heard that right!)…Lots of intersections, lots of interesting differences.
Sorry, I’m rambling now but you’ve got me thinking. You’ve stuck with my two blogs for a long time and I always have a little ‘Oh good!’ moment whenever I see you’ve left one of your thoughtful comments.
W
I really like the new look as well. I’ve always been a big fan of your blog no matter what and I’ve always been impressed that you keep writing unlike me. I start, I stop, I delete and entire blog, I start again.
Nance
I hate doing Blog Maintenance. The fear of Losing Stuff paralyzes me, and spending hours and hours fiddling about with code and layout and all that and having not much to show for it (except for sore shoulders and laundry left in the washer ANOTHER DAY to get smelly) makes me fussy. Some people change backgrounds and colors all the time, and I am amazed by it. I wonder if they also Martha Stewart their houses: you know, get new linens and slipcovers and dishes for every season and holiday. How exciting!
OmbudsBen
First, your blog never looks or looked crappy.
My only complaint, as an infrequent reader (who gets distracted by spending the workweek hours from 6 to 6 getting to, from, and through a job), is that sometimes I want to comment on something but the comments are closed.
Like your trip to Portland. The underground tour sounded interesting, I’ve seen voodoo donuts on TV, and then you spoke of dsicovering nudity is more acceptable in Portland.
Umm, how did you find this out? While walking back after the underground tour while munching donuts?
J
Sorry Ben, I close my comments after a few days because somehow if I don’t, spam comments get through, and I hate that. I don’t know why they get through, but they do.
Regarding the nudity, that was one of the things talked about by the Mr. Bowie lookalike. He talked about how the free speech movement was VERY strong there, and the unions were very involved, and how the strip clubs kind of took advantage of that and got nudity declared a free speech issue. Interesting, no?
C
I love all your posts. I love your blog…and you. I do read, but haven’t commented in a while.
Hey, I was thinking of you guys the other day. Little One sends her virtual Auntie J a big hug. 😉 xo
Christie
I’m not sure if I’ve commented before, so just saying hi. My husband is also Indian (b. and raised in England) so I guess that’s how I got started reading. I’m from Portland (but haven’t lived there for 25 yrs.) & have 2 boys (age 15 & 11). Anyway, hi!!