tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24702513801640499172023-11-15T05:30:04.365-08:00Test Blog From HECKTeganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.comBlogger47125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-45128290047463536402015-10-17T20:53:00.001-07:002015-10-17T20:55:51.767-07:00Video?<center><iframe width="700" height="500" src="http://video.wpbt2.org/viralplayer/2365570103" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" seamless allowfullscreen></iframe></center>Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-72570133482347009982010-03-24T21:56:00.000-07:002010-03-24T21:57:12.298-07:00Test of the Jump Break CodeI'm going to see if the Jump Break thing actually works on this blog. The code is apparently in there, I just have to see if it will work when I post.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br />If it worked, this is after the break. If it didn't work, well, you will see this on the main page.Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-26478215031361280582010-03-24T15:24:00.000-07:002010-03-24T15:25:49.183-07:00Useful Link - Change Post Format According to Author<a href="http://www.blogdoctor.me/2008/04/change-post-formatting-according-to.html">Blog Doctor - How to Change the Format of a Post According to the Author</a>.Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-84106789591747332242010-03-24T13:53:00.000-07:002010-03-24T21:58:38.140-07:00Conversion Summary...Recording this on the dummy blog for my own information. I first noticed a problem when I was looking up information for my Emerald City Comicon 2010 report. I learned, after a little searching, that Google had introduced a bug called "Auto Pagination" to Blogger that limits the amount of information a particular blog can display in a single page. This isn't a real problem with newer blogs that have an "older post" link at the bottom of all pages. But for my blogs, made on Classic Templates, there is no "older posts" option, and so it didn't broke my archives because only part of the information is being shown.<br /><a name='more'></a><br />I went to the <a href="http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/blogger/thread?tid=211d87eb120a771a&hl=en&start=120">Google support forum</a> after figuring this all out and wrote the following:<blockquote>3/19/10 <br />Ok. Let me get this straight. The reason my older posts are not showing on my classic template blogs is because Blogger/Google/Blogspot introduced a new bug called "Auto Pagination" that limits the amount of data sent for viewing. Because my classic template blogs do not have any of the "older posts" options available on the annoying layout blogs, those posts are permanently lost. The only way around this problem is to downgrade my blogs to layouts.<br /><br />Is that the situation, or am I missing something?</blockquote>Then followed with this, in response to a Google tech's utterly useless advice:<blockquote>3/19/10 <br /><i>Upgrading isn't all that difficult, hopefully you have not tweaked your classic template too much.<br /><br />Go to the Template - Customize Design wizard, and select "UPGRADE YOUR TEMPLATE".</i><br /><br />What if we HAVE tweaked our templates a lot? What if, when they introduced the layouts downgrade a few years back we attempted to convert our blogs and realized that Layouts was too severe a downgrade? Are we really and truly screwed by Google? Is that the answer?<br /><br />I don't see any "wizard" to upgrade, just a PICK A NEW TEMPLATE page. That's worse than useless. I started my blog in 2002, and spent years getting it to where I wanted. I have several other blogs that have been customized considerably. And what you are telling me is that Google is spitting on me and saying my blog isn't worth reading because I didn't move with the times.</blockquote>I was extremely angry, to be honest. Actually, I still am. But anger is only any good if you direct it into a useful task, so I was determined to figure out what to do next. An answer to my post suggested that there was a design wizard that would convert blog templates to layouts, so I went hunting and discovered... no, there wasn't.<blockquote>3/19/10<br /><i>You have to switch to the "Blooger in draft" dashboard, which will give you access to the design wizard. Keep in mind that this is beta, so expect bugs. And if there is a simple way to switch back to the regular dashboard, I haven't found it.</i><br /><br />So... they are providing a tool to convert, but only if you switch to a buggy interface for all your blogs?<br /><br />C'mon Google, give us a sandbox to work in! Sheesh.<br /><br />3/19/10<br />Ok, checked out the draft dashboard, and there is still no option to convert, just to pick a new one. In short, those of us with heavily customized classic templates are being punished for not downgrading to layouts when they were first offered.<br /><br />As for the draft dashboard, I can get back to the regular dashboard just by changing "draft" in the URL back to "www".<br /><br />So, there is no conversion tool. Only the option to pick a new template and start from scratch. Which is why many folks on classic templates are so incredibly peeved at Google right now, now that they've introduced bugs to the system that affect only classic template users.</blockquote>Another user expressed doubts about making the change, to which I replied:<blockquote>3/20/10 <br />S246, If you've done a lot of work in classic templates, it will take a lot of work to get it to display correctly in the braindead layouts. If you haven't, the trip to layouts is short and easy. Once you have a successful layout formatted blog, it's easier for braindead users to change, although if you have any HTML skills it is counter-intuitive and annoying (especially when it rewrites your code).<br /><br />I gave up on one blog (of six in classic templates) and moved it to a new template entirely. It didn't really require the look. Of the other five, I concentrated on my main blog instead of the group blogs, and I spent about six hours yesterday trying to duplicate the look in layouts. I'm coming close, although I'm still stumped on a few things (how do I duplicate tags for ItemPage? Why does the !&@!@ header gadget always rewrite itself back to the same useless piece of crap, not allowing me to create a custom header? Why hasn't anyone written a reasonable tutorial about moving from classic templates to gadgets?). I have four more heavily customized templates to change after this, and I'm dreading it.<br /><br />If Google wants to change to another format, then I will move all my blogs to privately hosted WordPress, because I don't want to go through this nonsense again. It's bad enough I have to do it this time because they decided to introduce a hateful bug.</blockquote>I realized by this time that converting to layouts was the only reasonable option, although some people were suggesting using page breaks. With a blog as old as mine, that would have required manually editing literally thousands of entries, which just wasn't practical. So I was working on changing Bloggity over, and thinking about how to do Elayne's blog next. I vanished from the forum for a couple of days to work on the problem.<br /><br />When I came back, I'd done a lot more work, and had many of my problems sorted out. Another user asked what to do, so I answered:<blockquote>3/22/10 <br />audreychew, you can either use jump breaks as Legacy2000 suggests, or downgrade to layouts. I just spent the last few days converting blogs. Thankfully I'm between contracts so I have the time. I have one more to go, but the last one was a killer. It was a classic template that still used tables for layouts! But if that thing could be converted, I guess any blog could be.<br /><br />I think most users aren't quite as attached to their templates as some of the folks posting here... </blockquote>And got someone asking me about how I converted a classic layout with tables into a new layout. So I decided to give some general advice:<blockquote>3/23/10 <br />I ended up cheating and using some tables in the page format. The trick is to get the layout of the page correct, then work on formatting the posts and sidebar. I used a lot of "view source" to figure out what classes to style. You can do the layout of the page in a dummy blog, because it doesn't rely on gadgets, but once you start putting the real sidebar information in you'll want to have the layout live and active. Each gadget saves the interior code in a database on Google, so you can't edit the HTML in gadgets directly, which is extremely annoying. But you'll have to put in "sample" gadgets in the dummy blog so you can style the sidebar the way you want.<br /><br />Once you have the dummy blog layout looking correct, you export the code from the HTML page, then import it into your real blog. Then add the gadgets.<br /><br />The problem with this particular classic template was that it used different background images (custom corners in a liquid layout) and that cannot be done in the version of CSS currently in use. I ended up putting the background images into a table and putting the elements of the CSS inside table cells. It took of lot of fiddling to make it work, but it ended up ok, even when tested on BrowserShots.<br /><br />If you need advice... well, I've just converted three heavily edited classic templates, so I have a little bit of advice on converting. Ask away. As for the answers to my three questions... one) duplicating conditional tags is a matter of inserting two lines of code into the expanded widget code on the HTML page, two) the default header cannot be edited in HTML, delete it if you need a custom header, and three) I doubt anyone has the time to put together something that would help all users of different expertise levels, but it's still annoying to those of us who still had classic templates.</blockquote>This answer got some positive response, but someone questioned my use of the term "downgrade" to describe the move to layouts. My response:<blockquote>3/23/10 <br />S246: It's a downgrade if you like having full control over your template. Because part of your code is stored elsewhere, you cannot take a layout and develop it offline (which is how I developed my original templates). Technically, it's an upgrade from HTML to XML (XHTML). But taking control of the code away from the users seems like a major downgrade to me, which is why I didn't move to layouts when they first were offered. Well, that and the stupid widget code kept rewriting itself.<br /><br />Look, I've still got time before my next contract, if you'll link to your blog I'll take a look and try to give you some specific advice. If you want to see my main blog, it's just my username dot blogspot.com.<br /><br />Legacy2000: "he"? Otherwise, pretty good information there. The problem with layouts is that they were introduced years after we started blogging, and had used those years to edit our classic templates. If I'd had a choice between the two when I started I would have gone with the layouts because that's obviously what we were being pushed to do. If I'd had years to play with the layouts first I no doubt would have preferred them to classic templates. People don't like change.</blockquote>Finally, I decided to write a quick summary that would give more people an idea how to start the process of moving their blog from a classic template to a layout.<blockquote>3/24/10<br />S246, and anyone else who is confused about the difference between Classic Templates and Layouts,<br /><br />Here's what you need to do. Go to your dashboard. Click on "Create a Blog". Follow the steps, but use a name that's a random string of characters for the location of the blog... or even a statement like "dummyblogforS246.blogspot.com". Something that's not likely to be desired by someone else, since this is going to be your blog layout playground.<br /><br />Pick a layout for it. It doesn't matter which one. Just a layout. Enter a few blog entries. I suggest using lipsum.com to generate some dummy text, and possibly put in a picture if you often use images in your blog.<br /><br />Now, look at the Layout tab of the blog. You should see "Page Elements" as the default. Look at how the "Gadgets" are arranged. Move them around a little to get a feel for what happens. Remember, this is a dummy blog, so make whatever changes you want to make freely. It won't affect your real blog. Go to "Edit HTML" and look at the HTML. Compare it to the HTML in your real blog's template. If you are familiar with HTML and CSS, you will probably start to pick up on the differences fairly quickly. If you aren't... well, there are a lot of tutorials out there that can get you started.<br /><br />Once you have a good grasp on the differences, it should become a little easier to make the change, or decide if it's worth making the change. If you decide to not make the change, you probably need the Jump Break solution: http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2010/02/auto-pagination-and-read-more-solutions.html<br /><br />If you do decide to make the change, use the dummy blog you just created to try to duplicate the layout of your blog. Not the specifics! The stuff in the sidebar will all end up in "Gadgets" in the layout, so just make the skeleton of the blog look the same. Think of the page without any words, then start adding bits in one at a time.<br /><br />Once you've got the layout correct, then you can download the code from your dummy blog and upload it into your real blog (by first selecting a random layout for your real blog, then uploading the code). Then you need to put stuff back into your sidebar by adding "Gadgets" that contain the stuff you want to work on.<br /><br />As I said before, some of the "Gadgets" or "Widgets" will rewrite themselves if you try to change them in the HTML section. Don't bother editing the Header Gadget. To delete it to make way for a custom header, you need to delete that bit of code in the HTML and then confirm that you want to delete it. I recommend using the HTML/Javascript gadget for most of your needs if you are proficient in HTML. This gives you the most control. Once you are familiar with how they are laid out, you can start using and editing other gadgets offered by Google.<br /><br />-<br /><br />You may want to work on the dummy blog quite a bit, or you may realize the change will be easy and do it right away. But I do recommend creating a dummy blog if you are at all confused. Having a safe playground to work in will help. If you are a stickler for tidiness, then delete the dummy blog when you are done with it. I prefer having one around to try new things in, personally.</blockquote>Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-8440413446623428972010-03-23T12:53:00.000-07:002010-03-23T12:55:50.140-07:00All DoneWell, I seem to have managed it. I updated all three blogs that needed updating, and switched over the other three. I even dealt with a couple of tweaks that Elayne wanted on her blog, due to her aversion to negative space on the sidebar.<br /><br />Now I'm just playing around to see what else can be done.Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-53172705016304587202010-03-22T11:54:00.000-07:002010-03-22T11:56:39.564-07:00Yay!Tested the layout on <a href="http://browsershots.org/">BrowserShots</a> and it looks really good on most current browsers. I'm working on fixing up the styling of the posts now, just about finished, then it's time to work on the sidebar. I think I've got most of the post styling worked out.Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-74442107313325452832010-03-22T09:55:00.001-07:002010-03-22T10:27:35.289-07:00Dummy BlogThis is a dummy blog that I'm using to convert several classic blogspot templates into layouts. I have managed to fully convert one, replaced the templates with mostly generic layouts on three others, and have two more heavily edited templates still to convert.<br /><br />The first blog I converted was my own regular blog, <a href="http://realtegan.blogspot.com/">Bloggity-Blog-Blog-Blog</a>. I started 8 years ago with a template based on tables, then converted it to CSS when I got into a CSS craze a few years later. It isn't perfect in the layouts format, but it's <i>almost</i> as good as it was. The display is wonky on Internet Explorer because Internet Explorer is non-standards-compliant, leading to annoyances that Opera and Firefox have no trouble with. I worked out most of the problems, but it was still a bit of a pain. Sadly, I cannot figure out why the top bar on the sidebar just won't display right in IE no matter what I do. Every fix I've attempted results it more problems.<br /><br />Once I tackled Bloggity, I started work on <a href="http://elayneriggs.blogspot.com/">Elayne's Blog</a>, which is what I'm working on as of this writing. Hers turned out to be much more of a challenge, and surprisingly more fun. The original tables template was never converted into CSS when I went through that craze, mostly because it cannot be converted. In fact, in order to get it to work in Blogger Layouts, I had to cheat and include remnants of the original tables in order to display the background. This has resulted in really odd margins and such, which I spent a good four hours messing with. But I think I've worked out most of the kinks, and it works on Firefox, Opera, and IE8. I also ran it through <a href="http://ipinfo.info/netrenderer/">IE NetRenderer</a> and it works in IE6 & IE7, but not previous to those. I'm also trying <a href="http://browsershots.org">BrowserShots</a>, but it was blocked because I had turned off search engine crawls... whoops! I'm checking the layout now...<br /><br />After I finish with Elayne's page, my last task is to update the Aquaman page. The blog is embedded in the page, so I have to be VERY careful with the styling. It will be annoying, but hopefully fun as well. At least I know I updated that page to CSS some time ago, so it shouldn't be an impossible task like Elayne's page!Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-68136638014110865142010-03-19T20:03:00.001-07:002010-03-19T20:03:31.660-07:00Test Post 2Test Test Test Test Test...Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-87253305061498074522010-03-19T20:02:00.001-07:002010-03-19T20:02:56.618-07:00Test Post 1Test test test test....Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-102365847038977302010-03-18T19:09:00.000-07:002010-03-22T07:57:15.844-07:00Maecenas MagnaMaecenas magna. Cras quis erat. Sed auctor leo eget purus iaculis suscipit. Praesent convallis pede sit amet elit. Duis varius, purus quis bibendum auctor, tortor mauris iaculis sem, ut volutpat lorem lectus sit amet ligula. Maecenas adipiscing elementum sapien. Sed elementum. Praesent ut lacus. Etiam commodo, ligula ac congue pulvinar, sapien metus semper lorem, et suscipit orci augue tincidunt mi. Duis sit amet enim at massa condimentum molestie. In felis. Donec tristique hendrerit elit. Fusce neque. Donec consectetuer urna et nulla. Fusce massa.<br /><br />Phasellus consequat ligula. Proin aliquet nonummy erat. Morbi ullamcorper mi quis tellus. Donec at sem. Phasellus nec pede vitae risus aliquam placerat. Nam volutpat libero et quam. Vestibulum vel metus quis magna pharetra semper. Morbi at quam in augue consequat hendrerit. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos hymenaeos. Nulla sapien erat, commodo vitae, blandit eu, scelerisque eget, ipsum. Mauris egestas placerat velit. Duis orci. In eu dolor. In pellentesque, dui et varius posuere, lacus sapien facilisis pede, in blandit lacus tellus id erat. Suspendisse et nulla quis ipsum pulvinar varius. Suspendisse eros nunc, tristique vitae, volutpat id, ultrices id, odio. Nullam consequat. Etiam vel erat quis mi gravida tempor.Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-47543922067853835312010-03-17T15:18:00.000-07:002010-03-22T07:55:55.944-07:00Phasellus Sodales Neque Sed LeoPhasellus sodales neque sed leo. Ut semper. Suspendisse facilisis congue risus. Vestibulum hendrerit malesuada massa. Proin eget neque. Proin faucibus volutpat tellus. Duis et urna sit amet augue ultricies sagittis. Nullam felis. Quisque congue aliquet erat. Mauris interdum. Vivamus tempus nibh non sapien. Curabitur justo est, semper eu, cursus eget, rhoncus quis, risus. Maecenas sit amet elit. Mauris accumsan. Integer commodo mi vitae neque.<br /><br />Nullam libero. Mauris vehicula risus. Curabitur adipiscing vulputate felis. Nullam dignissim faucibus turpis. Morbi laoreet pellentesque sem. Ut enim. In consectetuer consectetuer purus. Maecenas malesuada, tortor eget euismod laoreet, libero mauris nonummy dolor, in iaculis turpis urna sit amet ipsum. Integer vel turpis sit amet sem consectetuer laoreet. Sed odio enim, posuere sed, fringilla et, tristique a, dui. Aenean dictum sagittis purus. Maecenas fermentum dolor quis ligula. Cras faucibus ultrices turpis. Maecenas congue arcu at augue. Nulla ac elit. Sed eget arcu. Integer sem ipsum, sollicitudin sed, consequat et, blandit ut, tellus.<br /><br />Sed convallis ligula a est. Vestibulum pellentesque mauris vulputate ipsum. Ut accumsan tristique ipsum. Etiam et nulla at arcu tempus convallis. Vivamus ac mi a justo consectetuer iaculis. Integer vitae libero. Vivamus pretium, est eu dictum malesuada, turpis elit aliquam quam, nec lacinia turpis ligula quis turpis. Nullam faucibus lacus ac lectus. Integer vehicula metus fringilla enim. Curabitur augue leo, malesuada vel, ornare eu, lobortis ac, tortor. Suspendisse suscipit. Vivamus pharetra tempor augue. Aenean quis dui. Sed sapien ligula, sollicitudin sit amet, laoreet sed, ultrices pellentesque, lacus. In scelerisque, lacus ut aliquam fringilla, dui leo interdum diam, eget consequat neque urna eu dui. Donec convallis venenatis justo. Duis et quam vitae turpis ullamcorper aliquet. Quisque interdum ipsum sed nulla. Nam nonummy risus in pede.Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-15600750876059111912010-03-16T19:45:00.000-07:002010-03-22T07:56:46.367-07:00Lorem Ipsum Dolor Sit AmetLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Fusce bibendum consequat erat. Quisque vitae turpis. Donec pretium turpis at est. Aenean at turpis. Fusce at lectus sed augue pulvinar pharetra. Duis adipiscing enim in ligula. Ut sollicitudin ipsum vel nulla. Mauris urna leo, tempus sit amet, pulvinar eget, convallis a, lorem. Praesent tortor nibh, iaculis eu, venenatis sodales, scelerisque vitae, eros. Vestibulum tristique nunc consectetuer elit. Maecenas elit leo, pellentesque id, ultricies quis, fringilla porta, tortor. Proin non lorem a dui posuere fermentum. Nunc lectus. Nam sodales mattis lectus. Integer pretium, mi et eleifend venenatis, quam odio mattis quam, in dictum sapien ipsum faucibus tortor. Pellentesque nisl. Mauris feugiat nisi at sapien. Aenean consequat, ipsum non mattis sagittis, metus magna cursus purus, at malesuada purus nibh id sapien.<br /><br />Aenean urna justo, porta eget, congue quis, ornare quis, nibh. Fusce turpis odio, tincidunt ut, sagittis vel, cursus vel, nulla. Nulla laoreet, lorem in vulputate hendrerit, ipsum enim blandit mauris, ut cursus urna libero sed ante. Nam id leo. Aenean non ipsum. Proin lobortis eros et nunc. Suspendisse luctus sapien. Praesent sed nisi vel mi consequat pharetra. Aliquam vehicula ornare eros. Nulla tellus augue, auctor a, scelerisque vitae, placerat quis, turpis. Donec bibendum mi eu turpis viverra feugiat. Proin eleifend erat in urna. Aenean erat nulla, feugiat non, vulputate quis, auctor eu, sapien. Etiam sodales, lacus sed egestas pellentesque, nulla enim rutrum turpis, suscipit cursus nulla ligula a ante. Donec sed velit. Duis in nibh. Mauris aliquam odio ac risus condimentum congue. Morbi ligula.<br /><br />Duis pretium leo vitae lectus. Quisque nisi. Nulla id ipsum eu lectus imperdiet volutpat. Praesent in turpis ut leo ullamcorper lacinia. Donec sagittis tincidunt nisl. Morbi sollicitudin tempus lectus. Morbi a tortor. Praesent sit amet ligula a massa commodo consectetuer. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Duis tristique enim nec lectus. Suspendisse odio. Phasellus sed ante vel risus ultrices malesuada. Sed nulla purus, iaculis vitae, interdum vel, mollis sed, pede. Proin nisi nulla, blandit eu, accumsan sed, porta in, nisi. Cras justo est, consectetuer sit amet, ornare eu, convallis quis, tellus. Nam arcu ipsum, hendrerit vitae, pharetra vel, semper eu, urna. Nulla facilisi. In lorem. Nulla lacinia velit eget nulla. Quisque adipiscing dapibus nisi.<br /><br />Pellentesque fermentum facilisis neque. Suspendisse a pede. Pellentesque et erat. Fusce fringilla arcu a sem. Vivamus sit amet diam in pede feugiat faucibus. Donec blandit, libero tincidunt sollicitudin faucibus, urna nisi adipiscing turpis, sed accumsan sem nunc et velit. Etiam condimentum tristique mauris. Mauris consectetuer. Integer lectus pede, vulputate sit amet, blandit id, lobortis nec, mauris. Nunc ac arcu id eros rutrum vehicula. Nullam vel massa.<br /><br />Nam posuere turpis sed pede. Aenean a nibh. Phasellus est massa, congue et, dignissim sed, consectetuer sit amet, risus. Pellentesque odio. Mauris sem massa, condimentum nec, blandit quis, commodo a, libero. Donec placerat ligula semper diam. Proin at lorem. Nunc eu risus. Nullam faucibus rhoncus neque. Maecenas porta sodales nulla. Vestibulum porta. Donec tortor purus, pellentesque sed, mollis sit amet, feugiat ut, felis. Morbi risus felis, aliquet a, luctus et, auctor consectetuer, lectus. Fusce vel diam quis magna rutrum luctus. In vulputate, odio sit amet rutrum pulvinar, sapien dolor elementum diam, vitae porttitor est nibh sed mi.Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-39176520960640270652010-03-15T20:40:00.000-07:002010-03-19T12:07:47.406-07:00Con Report Coming......but not yet. I spent the day driving home, and had to stop many times to rest due to massive fatigue. Add in the confused state of my mind from the bad news we got right before the con and I'm just not ready to write yet. I have to pull apart my emotions and let the fun back in for awhile, then I'll be able to write.Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-19559986009459304532010-03-14T18:54:00.000-07:002010-03-19T12:07:47.407-07:00For the Record...No, I did not Troll either Stan Lee or Leonard Nimoy. The closest I got to getting Nimoy's picture was just before I snapped a pic of Wil Wheaton in the Canada Jersey, when I aimed my camera down the row:<br /><br /><center><img src="http://pics.gjovaag.com/NotNimoyatECCC2010.jpg" width="490" height="345" alt="Probably not Leonard Nimoy" /></center>Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-42877788874037909272010-03-13T18:33:00.000-08:002010-03-19T12:07:47.409-07:00This Post Is For Carolyn Ibis<center><img src="http://pics.gjovaag.com/2010ECCCWilWheaton.jpg" width="356" height="500" alt="Wil Wheaton in Canada Jersey" /></center>Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-75031312912105478202010-03-12T18:09:00.000-08:002010-03-19T12:07:47.410-07:00RainI braved the passes today to reach Seattle. I'm all set for the <a href="http://www.emeraldcitycomicon.com/">Emerald City ComiCon</a>, which you will no doubt be reading about on this blog over the next few days as I write up my adventures.<br /><br />I have no super-modern tech, so I won't be tweeting or blogging from the show itself. I'll try to write something once I'm home Saturday and Sunday, but no promises. It all depends on how wiped I am.<br /><br />Good thing I'm not headed back until Monday. The drive out here was wet and a little dicey at the height of the passes where the storm was hitting nice and fierce. Not as bad as a real winter storm, but enough to make driving next to semis a little scary. Oddly, as I look out the front window of my parents' house, the sky is completely clear. Talk about odd weather!<br /><br />If you want to see me at the con... I'll be wearing an Aquaman T-shirt and carrying <a href="http://torvald.gjovaag.com/">a Troll</a>. The rest may change without notice. I plan on wearing my Aquaman Hoodie (<a href="http://www.aquamanshrine.com/2010/02/adventures-of-aquahoodie-tegan.html">me in the Hoodie with an Emmy</a>) for a little while, but how long I wear it depends on how warm it is in the convention hall.Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-79931147087931191912010-03-11T16:57:00.000-08:002010-03-19T12:07:47.412-07:00Sorry About the NegativityJust got kicked in the face, still trying to figure out what to do now. I really thought we were on the right track. Here's some links...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.metafilter.com/89907/Avatar-Oz">Avatar = Oz</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.boingboing.net/2010/02/12/raptor-devours-cheer.html">Raptor Devours Cheerleader</a>. Yum.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.dwin.org/expressionengine/index.php/site/the_doctor_and_i/">The Doctor and I</a> by John Barrowman.<br /><br />LOLCat Theology: <a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/2010/03/08/funny-pictures-tabby-was-complete/">Basement Cat Walks Among Us</a>, <a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/2010/03/08/funny-pictures-precarious-you-say/">And has Good Balance</a>, <a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/2010/02/22/funny-pictures-cat-having-misplaced-both">And Comes For Your Soul</a>, <a href="http://icanhascheezburger.com/2010/02/22/funny-pictures-cat-your-haircuts-bad">But Doesn't Like Your Haircut</a>.Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-5621020468938427312010-03-10T17:29:00.000-08:002010-03-19T12:07:47.414-07:00Deep ThoughtWhen everything seems to have been resolved, and your problems finally seem to be fading away, and life is beginning to look up... that's when you need to brace yourself for a kick in the face.Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-75347083138689932812010-03-08T21:37:00.000-08:002010-03-19T12:07:47.415-07:00ThoughtsIt was so beautiful here today that when my little sister posted the word "snow" referring to Seattle I thought she was joking.<br /><br />Daylight Saving Time begins in the middle of <a href="http://www.emeraldcitycomicon.com">Emerald City Comicon</a>. I may need a lot of help getting up Sunday morning.<br /><br />I took my car to the shop to get the AC fixed before summer, today.<br /><br /><a href="http://torvald.gjovaag.com">Torvald</a> is getting excited about the con. I really hope I'm able to snap a pic with Stan Lee, but I'm not counting on it. Leonard Nimoy is also a hope... but not counting on that, either.<br /><br />I need to finish my jigsaw puzzle before the guests come for the Wizard of Oz weekend party in June.<br /><br />I got new batteries for my camera, and it's working better than it has in years now. Just in time for the con.<br /><br />I have Torvald cards to give out to people who are Trolled. I won't be printing many of my awesome "business" cards, though. I don't hand many of those out and I still have a small supply from last year (if I can find them).<br /><br />I got a fire/water-proof safe and put our important documents <i>and</i> my sketchbooks in it. I feel better already. Now I need to take them out to bring to the con.<br /><br />I need more <a href="http://www.chocolove.com/strong_dark.htm">Chocolove</a>.Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-16634883074389152022010-03-07T14:47:00.000-08:002010-03-19T12:07:47.417-07:00A Sunday ReviewTV this week:<ul><li><cite>Who Do You Think You Are?</cite>: "Sarah Jessica Parker" - An ancestor who was a '49er and an ancestress who was accused of being a witch during the Salem hysteria. Not a bad start to this series in the United States. It actually made my husband kind of want to look into his family's past. My own family's past is constantly getting revealed thanks to the patient work of my sister. I can see that I'm really going to love this show.</li></ul>I actually have a few more shows on the DVR to watch, but I'm still over-TVed from the Olympics, so I haven't been keeping up. I should have a little more in two weeks (don't expect a review next week, I'll be at the Con).<br /><br /><hr align="center" width="30%" /><br /><div class="left"><a href="http://realtegan.blogspot.com/search/label/DCBS"><img src="http://pics.gjovaag.com/smly_comicbook.gif" width="19" height="24" alt=" " title="COMICS!" /></a></div>Here are reviews of the <a href="http://www.dcbservice.com">DCBS</a> comic book shipment that arrived this week, of books originally released February 17th and 24th:<ul><li><cite>Green Lantern #51</cite> - A tiny bit more of Mera, and even Aquaman and Tempest. Nothing special, though. I'm looking forward to the end of this crossover.</li><li><cite>Green Lantern Corps #45</cite> - Guy is raging, Mogo is deus ex machina, whatever.</li><li><cite>Power Girl #9</cite> - I really am surprised at how much I'm enjoying this book. The subplots are fun, the cast is cool, and the enemies are amusing and yet still threatening. It's just a good book all around.</li><li><cite>Justice League of America #42</cite> - A bit confusing, until I remembered that this is set after Blackest Night. Then I recalled a little of what happened in the last issue and I think I followed it from there.</li><li><cite>Batman: The Brave and the Bold #14</cite> - A bit of a standard story, if one exists for this version of Batman. Aquaman fan-art in the letter column.</li><li><cite>Tiny Titans #25</cite> - Not enough Aqualad. *sigh* Funny take on the Lantern Rings, though.</li><li><cite>Incredibles #5</cite> - Yay! Edna!</li><li><cite>The Tick: New Series #2</cite> - um. right. Maybe I'll stop mentioning this one, since it's only very mildly funny, and not really my thing.</li><br /><li><cite>Blackest Night #7</cite> - Not at all what I was expecting to see happen. Not even close. I would say "oops" but that just doesn't cover it. As for Mera... Lex? Eeeuuuwwww.</li><li><cite>Blackest Night: JSA #3</cite> - Bittersweet, particularly Jesse's role. Hey, at least New York is safe...</li><li><cite>Justice Society of America #36</cite> - Attack of the Nazi-wannabes? I don't much like the framing sequence, just for its implications.</li><li><cite>Northlanders #25</cite> - Everything about this book is brutal. It's good, don't get me wrong, but very brutal.</li><li><cite>Marvelous Land of Oz #4</cite> - The origin of the Wogglebug! I'd forgotten that was in this story. Funny stuff.</li><li><cite>Usagi Yojimbo #126</cite> - Wow, perfect solution to an unhappy situation!</li></ul><br /><hr align="center" width="30%" /><br />My library book this week was <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0670021156/?tag=theaquamanwebsit">Stones into Schools</a> by Greg Mortenson. I read <a href="http://realtegan.blogspot.com/2010/02/sunday-review_21.html">Three Cups of Tea</a> a couple of weeks ago, and immediately put this book in for a hold. It is both better written and slightly more compelling in many ways than the first book. True, the first book lays the groundwork for what we see in this one, but in this book there is a definite sense of how Greg empowers the people in Afghanistan and Pakistan to pull themselves back together and rebuild their world. There were plenty of moments that I found myself gasping or giggling at the sheer absurdity of the situation, and many many more where I wanted to rush in with a hammer and package of nails to help. And more than a few moments when I felt rage that the Taliban has been allowed to destroy a peaceful religion in the eyes of the rest of the world. One very different thing in this book from the last is how Greg learns to respect members of the US military who are genuinely concerned with helping pull Afghanistan out of despair by rebuilding instead of bombing and how he starts to work alongside them, though not ever <i>with</i> them directly, to push schools into highly dangerous areas that have asked for help. I won't pretend to understand Pakistan and Afghanistan, but these books have given me an insight into cultures and beliefs that I wish every American had. Highly recommended. Go on, get 'em and read 'em.<br /><br /><hr align="center" width="30%" /><br />Agatha Christie this week was <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0451199863/?tag=theaquamanwebsit">A Pocket Full of Rye</a> from 1953. I put it in for inter-library loan, and the system decided to buy new copies, so I got to read a brand-new paperback. This mystery concerns a businessman poisoned in his office and found with a pocket full of rye. Miss Marple doesn't come into the story until 12 chapters have passed, but she immediately seizes on the nursery rhyme and eventually gets the entire thing figured out in detail. Aa usual, I didn't figure everything out, although I hit a couple of notes. I think the fact that the reader is always allowed to figure out a couple of the lesser mysteries is why Christie's writing is considered brilliant and not aggravating. Ah well, on to the next!<br /><br /><hr align="center" width="30%" /><br /><div class="caption"><a href="http://realtegan.blogspot.com/search/label/Sunday%20Review?max-results=100">Past Sunday Reviews</a> -- <a href="http://www.amazon.com/b?%5Fencoding=UTF8&node=4366&tag=theaquamanwebsit&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325">Comics at Amazon.com</a> -- <a href="http://previews.diamondcomics.com">Previews</a> -- <a href="http://www.amazon.com/o/registry/1LQ0LSAUK0S6I">My Wishlist</a></div>Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-42223426083354582402010-03-06T20:37:00.000-08:002010-03-19T12:07:47.419-07:00Aqualad's BirthdayIn honor of <a href="http://aqua.gjovaag.com/blog/2007/01/requiem.html">Leah</a>, this is this year's <a href="http://aquablog.gjovaag.com/2007/03/aqualads-cake.html">Aqualad's Birthday Cake</a>.<br /><br /><center><img src="http://pics.gjovaag.com/2010AqualadCake1.jpg" width="450" height="400" alt="Birthday Bright" /></center><br /><br /><center><img src="http://pics.gjovaag.com/2010AqualadCake.jpg" width="450" height="400" alt="Birthday Bright" /></center>Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-56149670846009990992010-03-04T12:28:00.000-08:002010-03-19T12:07:47.421-07:00CameraPhone Zen<center><img src="http://pics.gjovaag.com/CameraPhone2010Mar04.jpg" width="600" height="450" alt="School Bus Kits" title="This is why I really respect school bus drivers" /></center>Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-20902350878778376042010-03-04T11:53:00.000-08:002010-03-19T12:07:47.422-07:00This Too Shall PassIf you are one of the handful of people who haven't seen the new OK Go video, here it is:<br /><br /><center><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/qybUFnY7Y8w&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/qybUFnY7Y8w&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object></center>Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-52234662616427461392010-03-03T12:54:00.000-08:002010-03-19T12:07:47.424-07:00Don't Press the F1 Key?<a href="http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/981169.mspx">Microsoft has issued an advisory</a> telling users of XP to NOT press the F1 key if prompted by a website, because that could run a nasty script. The exploit was revealed on Friday by a <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9164038/Microsoft_Don_t_press_F1_key_in_Windows_XP">Polish researcher</a>, and Microsoft hasn't had time to patch it yet.<br /><br />A better solution, however, is to stop running Windows Internet Explorer and start running a more secure browser like Firefox. The best solution is to just not run Windows at all, of course. Maybe I'll switch to Linux eventually...Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2470251380164049917.post-21355485522757332682010-03-02T19:28:00.000-08:002010-03-19T12:07:47.426-07:00Donate to Help Cheyenne, Get Cool Wallpapers<a href="http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/info/donate.php">The new Girl Genius Wallpapers are up</a>, and the proceeds are going to help pay for Cheyenne Wright's hospital bills. Yes, I put in my little bit.Teganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12625983869465172976noreply@blogger.com0