Site Redesign

I guess what I said yesterday about "not planning any major changes to the overall look and feel" isn't quite correct. Something just hit me early this morning so I started messing with the blog template and I figured out it's not nearly as complicated as I had always thought it was. I'm a bit torn about what to do with the main page though. While I love the current look, I also want to do something that invites people in and makes them interested in checking out the other pages. Not sure yet what I'm going to do but you might see the main page change now and then, as I get a feel for how something new might look.

So what do you think of the new blog design?

Anticipation

Photo Journal!!

Thanks to a link on Technicolor Day, I found a site to do a photo journal on! It's hosted on Fotopages and you can see it for yourself by clicking here.

Hey blogger blogger blogger...

My friends are crazy but I wouldn't want them any other way.

So my evening plans started when, upon hearing me leaving to get my mail, C-bob comes rushing out of her apartment thinking I was going to get food. I'm not against going to get food, I just thought it was pretty funny. So we head off to the mexican place where I got two beef tacos and a churro. I love churros by the way, so yummy.

After eating I drug C-bob over to Nate and Kelly's for a little bit to hang out. Since C-bob has to work in the morning, we left pretty early so I could take her home. I stayed around here for about 20 minutes and then decided to go back. I needed to be around people so I remember how to interact with them. There were only a couple of Nate's friends there but we had fun talking and playing with Kelly's uber nice camera. There will be some interesting pictures on that roll and hopefully I will get to see them. We all took turns taking pictures of ourselves so those alone should be funny. I also played around trying to be all, artistic, so it should be interesting.

Nate's band, Jive Pistol, plays at M&N Sandwich Shop tomorrow night at 6:30 PM. It's located at 27th and Randolph for anyone in the area looking for something to do. I hear the food is really good so that alone would make it worth the trip. I haven't decided for sure if I am going to go, but I am really thinking about it. It all depends on my other plans and how things work out.

One other thing of note that I found humorous. I was looking at this hosting sites webpage and noticed they have a special right now that if you sign up, they send you free software. Well in this package, along with some website building tools, is software to create pop-ups. That of and in itself isn't that interesting, but also in this same software package is software to block pop-ups. I thought that was pretty funny.

Avest Ye Matey!

Little late, but posting it anyway, arrr.

Talk Like a Pirate Day is today! arrr.

I'm a pirate. Arrrr.

Site Design

I think it's about time to do a little more work on the Quarkstar.com site as a whole. I'm not planning any major changes to the overall look and feel but to fix some underlying code problems that bother me and expand other areas. I think in the end it will be a stronger website for the effort.

Problems though, I can't find either my Photoshop CD or my Dreamweaver one. Just a little bit of advice, if you are going to reformat your harddrive, make sure you know where your CDs are.

More updating!

There's a new Quarkstar Journal entry! Go read it now, you know you want to! :)

Early Morning Website Changes..

woo, what fun when you can't sleep, eh?

So I finally decided what to do with the Reviews section I no longer wanted, so without further ado, I give you...

Quarkstar Fiction!!!

I already have one fiction story posted, so go read it if you want. I'm planning on posting short stories for now, but when I get into the process more it might turn into a chapter by chapter type book. Let me know what you guys think by commenting here. I am working on a way to get comments on all the blogs in the future.

The Demise of Fan Jr.

Not many people know this, but I have been sleeping with a fan running for at least 2 or 3 years now and it's to the point where I have trouble sleeping without one running. The first fan was a nice Honeywell made of black plastic only not the swivel kind, but the tornado type that pulls air from the bottom and whips it around. That fan lasted me a good solid two years, on every night and sometimes for days at a time. It did a wonderful job of keeping my room cool and worked well as backup cooling for the now retired MercJr.

When I moved to my current place, I brought my old faithful fan with me and he lasted a good month or two here before old age finally got the best of him and his motor died. I was deeply saddened by the loss but it took me a few days to realize why it was I couldn't get any good sleep anymore. I needed the fan more than I realized as it had become a sort of comfort to me as I slept. I'm not sure why it ended up happening this way, but I remember a late night stop at the 24-hr Walgreen's to get the new fan. I found the same model fan, but the only ones they had were white. Since the color didn't really matter, I went ahead and brought it home.

The new fan did it's job well and soon I was sleeping fine again. Then the other night when I turned her on, she started sputtering a bit, but a nice smack got the motor back up and running. Tonight, though, there was no bringing her back to life. There was no amount of hitting or prodding with a screwdriver or cleaning that seemed to bring her around. So I am sitting here, pretty tired and a bit upset that the new fan didn't make it 6-months. It is still under warranty but the cost of shipment just to get warranty work, which they would probably not do anyway, costs more in money and effort than just buying a new one.

Maybe I'm letting myself become to wrapped up in the idea that I can't sleep without the noise of this fan. I'm not really sure if that is true or not or if I just let myself believe it. I think it just helps to screen out the other sounds around me, especially when I am trying to sleep during the day. Mostly though, it reminds me of the old place and my old room, so maybe part of me is comforted by that. The knowledge that while some things have to change, you can still have a few things constant in your life.

About My Town

Inspired by Merc and again by FJ.

Name: Lincoln, Nebraska
Population: 225,000
Size: 75 square miles
Altitude: 1,167 feet

People:
Median Age: 33.1
Average Household Size: 2.37
Average Family Size: 3.06
Total Housing Units: 107,560

Area Code: 402
Zip Codes: 68501-68510, 68512, 68514, 68516, 68517, 68520-68524, 68526-68529, 68531, 68532, 68542, 68583, 68588

Temperatures and Precipitation:
Range from an average high of 90 degrees to an average low of 66.3 degrees F. in July.
Range from a high of 32 degrees to an average low of 10.1 degrees F. in January.
Average yearly measurable precipitation is 28.26 inches

Employers:
Largest employers include -
Public: State Government, the University of Nebraska and Kawasaki.
Private: Bryan/LGH Medical Center, Goodyear.

Private business is strong in the service/trade and manufacturing with printing / publishing, insurance and pharmaceutical manufacturing as major employers.

Parks:
Over 6,000 acres of public parks featuring public golf courses, lakes, swimming pools, picnic facilities, playgrounds, nearly 80 miles of scenic hiking and biking trails, an observatory, recreation centers, and a tennis complex offering year round play.

Another day..

I'm thinking about hitting the library again today to take back some of the books I'm finished with and pick up a few more. The library is such a great thing and I really need to use it more. I am going to see about getting some GRE prep books and maybe something just to read for fun.

On another note: Happy Birthday Manda!!

Idea Monger

So as I look back over my life, I realize that I have come up with tons of projects and ideas for myself but tend to let them fall through. I get excited about something for a few days or weeks even, but then let it fall through the cracks and move on to another project or idea. For once in my life though, I am going to squarely take on this newest challenge, take my time and actually follow the steps necessary to complete it.

I am going to look into going back to school to get my MA in Creative Writing. They have a program at UNL as well as some other schools I wouldn't mind going to. I think the best thing for me to do, to truly get this going, is to make a list of steps and follow them. To not rush things and then get frustrated when it doesn't work out. The application process alone is going to take a bit of effort. It requires getting letters of recommendation, getting a sample writing portfolio together, writing a letter of intent and taking the GRE. My first step should be to e-mail the women in charge of the graduate program and set up a time to meet with her to talk over what I should do. I really want to make a good impression from the start because I'd love to end up with an assistantship, hopefully one where I'd get to teach.

It's not going to be the easiest thing I've tried to do, but I really have to focus and not screw it up. I have to, for once, take it slow and look over each step and make sure all my bases are covered. I am going to take everything in the process more seriously than I have ever taken anything in my life. It's about time I started growing up and figuring out what it is I want from life, before it's too late.

Nothing Exciting

Didn't do much of anything today so today's update is going to be short. I see a hurricane is approaching the coast so if you are in the path, look out!

I said the update was short. Peace!

Anniemauls (animals)

C-bob's work was having some big, scary employee thing at the zoo and she invited me along. Free pizza and soda plus getting to look at the animals for free! I love free stuff so that made it awesome. I didn't ride the train, but train rides were free too. I had a pretty good time, got to see some cute animals and try not to step on any little kids. We we to the Folsom Children's Zoo and it's not quite like I remember it. It seemed smaller some how and a lot of the animals just looked pathetic and bored.

After the zoo we went to BagNSave were I picked up some more food type items. All in all, not a bad evening.

Mistakes

I try to do my best at the things I do but I seem to make costly mistakes when I don't mean to. I figured out why it is I haven't heard a response from iUniverse. It's because I didn't read close enough when applying. There were two places on the page where it listed application instructions and I didn't read the part on the side that said "do not send attachments." So yea, I sent my resume as an attachment. Oh well, I can't go back and do it over now, what's done is done. What I did do was go ahead and send the resume again, in the format they wanted (I hope) and can only see what happens from that point on. I guess I got a bit too excited about the position and applied too quickly. I hate making mistakes though, especially when it's something like this. I really want that job and I've already probably messed it up for myself. I guess I'll just have to learn from this and all that stupid stuff people tell you when you screw up. Whatever, can't do anything about it so I'll just let this blog be my venting and go on with life.

Home again...

Went out to dinner with my family for my mom's birthday tonight. We had dinner at Lazlo's and dessert at the Cold Stone Creamery. I always enjoy going to Lazlo's and I can tolerate Cold Stone Creamery, except when someone tips. See for some reason, if you tip them, they all sing. That creeps me out.

My bro wanted to go to Barnes so I got to browse some books but didn't end up buying anything. Went back to my parent's house, did some laundry and watched TV. We ended up watching the movie Like Mike on HBO. My parents are getting a free month of HBO from the cable company and there wasn't anything else on. This is an interesting movie, it's mildly entertaining at points but from the plot alone you know it's not one of your more serious films. I think it was alright to see for free, but I doubt I'd pay money to see it.

I've been playing the game Small Ball Baseball for the last few days and it's kind of interesting. You have this generated team of players that you do training with and then have them play games. It's kind of like fantasy baseball meet a virtual pet, but so far it doesn't seem that bad. My team is called the North Platte RiverRats and are doing OK as a team.

Football!

Wow, quite the sports filled day for me, apparently. I didn't actually go to the football game but I did go over to Sheri and Tony's to watch the game on TV. Susan, Nick and C-bob were there also and everyone had a good time, as far as I could tell. I really didn't pay that much attention to the football game though, they never seem to hold my interest but I do know that the Huskers beat Penn State. I also got to play with the dogs which was a lot of fun. Sheri and Tony have two dogs, Angel is an American Eskie and super fluffy and Buddy is all black lab. Buddy is pretty funny because I don't think he really understands just how big he is. That's ok with me though because I actually like bigger dogs. My dog is a medium to small size pup and she's the greatest but there are just some things you can do with bigger dogs that little dogs won't put up with. All in all I had a great evening, had some good munchies and had a small amount to drink. After the football game we (minus C-bob) played Uno for awhile but I really can't remember who won which rounds or any other details like that.

I have a family thing tomorrow, a belated birthday get together for my mom and I will probably get some laundry done. Hope you all had an enjoyable Saturday!