You might have found this page by accident or by the whims of your favorite search engine. If you have, hope you stay a while. If you're a regular, I have a few new useful toys on this blog.
As you explore this site, you may notice a few things here and there. I've juggled the layout, hoping this cleans things up a bit. There's a lot less clutter at the top of the page -- when I ccouldn't even find my own postings right away, I knew that was a problem.
What I did leave at the top is a news ticker. The headlines will rotate in and out, so it's a pretty handy device.
In the left-hand column you'll find two ways to subscribe to this blog, by RSS or email (it is essential reading after all).
Pay attention to the boxed item, "News that caught my attention." It's pretty cool. I use Google Reader for my own RSS feeds, and I have the option of sharing news that way. In it you'll find some news and feature stories I found interesting. The box shows my five most recent additions to the reader's "shared items" page. Clicking on the headline itself brings you directly to the story. But if you click on "read more" at the bottom of that box you'll go to my actual shared-items page. You might find that particularly interesting because, not only will you see the links to the stories, but also my comments on some of these stories. Think of it as a blog-within-a-blog. My hope is that the shared-items page may become yet another reason for the Web traveler to stop by.
I especially like the "Playing in traffic" section. It's gratifying to know I get readers from places I can't even find on a map.
Down at the bottom of the page you'll find a search box, a handy way to get to Google. Also there's "About You," my favorite bit of Web mind-diddling. Do not adjust your set; that's really you and I know all about you. You think browsing on the Web is private? Guess again. Your location, IP address, and some aspects of your computer are public as soon as you crank up your Web browser. I think I've commented on that before.
My own "About You" reminds me that I live near Goose Creek, SC (where my Web service is based), that my wireless signal is from Comcast, that I'm runing Linux and using a "Mozilla/Netscape 5" browser. All of which is true, by the way. My operating system is indeed Linux, and I'm using Seamonkey, which is based on Mozilla's old browser after they began throwing all their resources into Firefox. I found the graphic on someone else's Web page, thought it was a real hoot, got the coding for it, and pasted it into my own page. So enjoy -- once you get over the panic attack, that is.
A footnote here. A friend turned me on to Google Mail a couple of years ago, and while I was a little goosy about getting text ads based on certain key words in my email (that part still freaks me out -- but forget about any email being totally private anyway) I've come to love it. Now I use Google services for nearly everything. I can store some files in my gmail box, I use Google for occasional on-line chats, and I've played with some online Google applications. But my favorite Google feature by far is the RSS reader. If you haven't played with RSS feeds yet, ask someone about it (maybe even me) and give it a try. You can waste many hours going through your RSS feeds, but at least they'll all be in one place.
Another bit of technology I sometimes use on this blog is Jott. It allows me to add short postings by phone. It's a bit of a throwback to the old days of journalism that I know and miss. Back in my days of deadline reporting I'd rough out the story, find a pay phone, and call my editor. Jott is something like that, though it's so tempting to preface my phone-in posting with the old "gimme dictation." Actually, I can. (Note to self: Change Jott entry code for The Column.)
One of the goofy things about Jott is that things sometimes get lost in the translation. Words get mangled. I don't know if it's because the people at Jott don't speak Southern, but messages are not always received as sent. So if the entry looks like it was typed in by a Martian on mushrooms, you'll know why. But until I edit my Jott-sent submission, you'll find a "Listen" link that will allow you to hear what I'd phoned in.
The page design remains simple, uncluttered, no-nonsense, designed for fast loading. There's a reason behind the color scheme, too, reflecting back to the days that my journalism critics (mostly politicians and land developers) claimed I practiced a certain type of reportage reflecting on said color and said so in uncomplimentary terms.
OK. I was out of commission for a little over a month. Most of this was while shaking out my new schedule -- I recently started full-time work at a railroad yard. Also, I've been without a computer, so any entries were typed in and sent from the local library. But I recently picked up a used computer, set it up the way I like, and am good to go. My Internet connection is wireless, for now. The problem is it's unreliable; it comes and goes. That situation will soon be mitigated.
Anyway, it's good to be back.
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