Pabulum

Housekeeping

Well, I've done away with the other sections of the blog which, minus test posts, received two and zero posts, respectively, and neither the unique designs nor banner photography I had envisioned. I did manage to merge all two of those actual posts into the main Pabulum blog, something I had not believed I would be capable of accomplishing, so that was nice.

I've also added a Site Meter alongside the Stat Counter, since the former is what everyone else seems to be using. I'll compare them side by side for a while and make any decisions as to which one will track the three of you in a few weeks or so. I thought for a minute about starting my Site Meter at 850, to account for the visits Stat Counter had heretofore recorded, but since I never set it to ignore myself, about 837 of them were from me, wondering Now is that gonna show up or not?, I figured I wouldn't miss them too much, along with those conspicuously absent months in my archives links.

Wow, it's only two out of almost a year. Much better than I expected.

Update: Some more housekeeping done, where I went back and assigned categories to all those posts I forgot to categorize (and added category links to the sidebar). I just keep forgetting to do it as I post, but I think this tedious little exercise will help me remember to do so in the future. This was the first time, though, I've been thankful for my questionable commitment to getting stuff posted on here. It could have been a lot worse.

And with that, I must have exhausted my last excuse.

New banner!

Thank you to my lovely and multi-talented girlfriend for the wonderful new banner you see at the top of the page. Responsible for everything from the photography to uploading the file, she brought it to life exactly as I imagined it (except for the rather, let's say, indifferent approach to punctuation; there will of course be a few minor tweaks to come).

Thanks so much, babe. You're the best.

Pertinacity: Lost Season 2 Premiere: Where were we?

While getting my petty critical juices flowing for tonight's episode, I decided to post some thoughts on last week's Lost season 2 premiere in Pertinacity.

The Whole World Is Against Me (And Yet a Stiff Wind Would Do)

A busy work schedule, a broken computer, and a weekend business trip have conspired against me to reduce my blog posting from its usual intermittent trickle to something a more like an occasional drop of spittle from the white crusty corner of an old man's mouth.

The computer has been repaired, but work remains busy and a new trip looms this weekend, so we're not out of this crunch yet. However, some time next week we should be trickling once again.

I do promise, though, despite all odds against me, to make every effort to work that spittle up to a good lather whenever I have the chance in the next few days. I also promise never to allow my inner country star to write a post title ever again.

Pertinacity: Million Dollar Baby: She's not the only one who takes a beating.

My first review is up in Pertinacity, a discussion of the bludgeon otherwise known as Million Dollar Baby.

Technical Issues

As mentioned, this blog will have three blogories: Pabulum, the main, general section; Pertinacity, a media review blog; and Peregrinations, a travel/sightseeing blog. The other two sections have yet to be updated (Pertinacity will be soon) and given their own designs, but I also have some techinical issues I'm trying to work out by the time I start posting to them regularly.

Ideally, I'd like posts to the two sub-blogories to automatically show up as alert posts in the main Pabulum section with a link to the new post, but I can find no way of making this happen. So, I've also been attempting to get my personal blogroll (labeled "Menu") on the side to show "Recently Updated" information for my blogs, but I can't get that to work, either. I have no idea how this pinging stuff works and right now am about as close to implementing my desired system as I am of fulfilling my lifelong dream of walking on Mars.

At the moment, I guess I'm stuck with manually updating my sub-blogories' Recent Posts typelists in the sidebar (another question: is there any way to put one blog's Recent Posts list on another blog? I doubt it) and posting alert posts to the main section if I so desire. We'll see just how tedious that is, I guess.

So, anyway, if anyone has any help to offer, please do so.

Introductions

Hello and welcome to my new blog. And by new, I mean the blog is brand new, not that it is new in relation to some other, older blog of mine. Don't worry, there's no compendium of my greatest hits lurking out there unread by you. If you're here and you're reading this, you're in on it from the very beginning. This will make you cool in the eyes of no one, ever, as I will at no time be offered the opportunity by anyone to sell out any principles I may at some point in the future hold for any piddling sum of money/fame/notoriety/chalupas.

My plans for this blog are still in the formulation stages, and probably will remain so for some time. I believe, with the account I've signed up for, that I can create up to three separate blogs. I have in my head, however, plans for four distinct blogories (is that a word, for blog category? it should be). These will be, in no particular order, a general me blog, giving personal notes and anecdotes, as well as serving as a sort of umbrella blog for the other sections; a travel blog, detailing mostly trips that could be taken by you but that are in fact no trip of particular note for me, owing to my semi-destitute status, and therefore limited pretty much to the New York City metro area, but there's plenty of interest to write about there; an art/pop culture/media review blog, giving my thoughts on anything that falls in or near any of those categories, probably well after their shelf life has expired; and maybe, trailblazingly, a political blog, giving my thoughts on the news of the day and links to stories I think are important (I think this type of blog just may catch on; glad I'm in on the bottom floor).

My problem, as you can see, is I have too many categories for the number of blogories I have. I'll have to combine. It seems the most natural, to me, would be to combine the personal blog with the political, as they're probably the most personal, but I'd rather not "pollute" either with the other. The travel blog (tentatively titled Peregrinations (pompous, I know; I'll get right on adding that blogory, too!)) is pretty clearly the most self-contained of the sections, so that will probably remain on its own. Which leaves me with combining the review category with either the personal or the political, neither of which is particularly appealing to me, for varying reasons, so I'll have to think on that some more.

So, there you have it, my grand plans for this here blog. I hope they sound interesting enough for you to drop by in a few when I've gotten a few more things figured out.