It’s almost a new month. Almost time to test out a new theme. So I guess it’s time to see what I like and don’t like about the Amazing Grace theme.
What I like:
- it has a tag line
- it’s easy to read, even if post entries are a little compact
- it handles photo captions nicely
- it handles threaded comments
- I love the rotating photos in the header. I haven’t modified any of the photos, but it’d be extremely easy to do so.
- I like the way pages are handled in the horizontal menu. Subpages aren’t displayed. (If there are too many pages, the navigation could become very ugly and unwieldy.)
- list items in posts are handled as they should be—unordered list items are noted, unordered list items are numbered. Why anyone would take out the numbering in ordered lists (which is, after all, the whole purpose of having an ordered list) is beyond my comprehension.
What I don’t like:
- full justification. I don’t think it’s as easy to read online, and is especially distracting if the line requires a lot of spacing
- the giant sized rss feed icon. Then again, maybe this would be a good idea for Sci Fi Chicks since we want to encourage subscribers (since we don’t post regularly)
- it comes with tabs for major categories, but I guess this is really a non-starter because I took them out
- I like having child categories (e.g., “Kitchen Kapers”) associated with their parent (”Battling the Bulge”, which this theme doesn’t do. But in the grand scheme of things, that’s not an important criteria for me.
- I’d like the font of the image caption to be distinct from the general text. Both fonts appear to be the same with this theme.
All of these “dislikes” can be changed, some more easily than others, so as to be non-starters. So, all-in-all, this theme’s a winner.
Ok, I see an annoying horizontal line in the previews. I don’t recall that line being there before, and I think it may have something to do with the background image. I don’t like it, but I think if it’s really there (and not a figment of my web browser), it’s probably fixable. Still, I guess that means the jury is still out.
Tags: WordPress themes
Amazing Grace theme for WordPress, as it appears here
I’m anxious to see some of the supposed features of the theme I’m currently using here in action. (And just so I’d have a reference should I change themes again [which I inevitably will] I made a screenshot of it.) One new feature I’m excited about is “threaded comments,” but so far the current theme at Sci Fi Chicks hasn’t given me this capability. So I may have to bite the bullet and load this new theme there anyway. I wonder how the other Chicks will feel about that.
I started a Facebook account and a Twitter account this week. Truthfully, I don’t get the whole social networking hype. But then, I’m old a baby boomer. I only created the accounts to try to draw traffic to Sci Fi Chicks. Now I have to figure out how to find people who’d be interested in the site.
Exciting times yesterday. It was the birthday of 3 of my favorite people, but I’ll discuss that some other time. Instead, I’ll just whine about my trip to the emergency room last night. For no apparent reason, my upper lip started to bleed. It was just a little pin-prick of a cut, but day-yum! it bled like gangbusters. By the time it took me to change out the blood-soaked tissue for a new one, the blood ran down my chin and splattered onto my (white, of course) sweater. I got rather worried when it wouldn’t abate, so drove myself to the ER (one-handedly). But by the time I’d checked in and moved my car, it finally started to settle down. So I came home. I now have a little scab on my lip, which actually hurts more than the cut itself did.
I’m trying out new themes to possibly use at Sci Fi Chicks. Why? Because the theme we’re using now is an old theme, and the new version of WordPress allows for a lot of cool new features I don’t think this theme supports. So, if you land here and don’t recognize the place, that’s why.
Yeah, I got nothin’ else for today. But you can go read my synopsis-review for Life on Mars at Sci Fi Chicks, if you’d like.
Tags: WordPress themes
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
I have this problem. I get an idea, mention it, get tons of postitive responses, get another idea, start working on idea #2. Etc, etc.
Every year, Supernatural comes out with an Official Season Companion. But there wasn’t one for season 3. So I decided to write the Unofficial Season 3 Companion. (Even though I did find out the official one is coming out in early March.) Several people thought it was a great idea.
So what happened? After the meagerest of beginnings, I turned my attention to creating an LOLcats website for Supernatural and Legend of the Seeker. Turns out it had already been done for Supernatural. So I putzed around with LotS without really going anywhere. And then, last night I remembered the season companion idea.
So, I am going to concentrate on writing synopses and commentary for Supernatural’s worst season. Look for bits and pieces of the Supernatural: The Unofficial Season 3 Companion coming to my WordPress.com blog.
Tags: Christmas
That would be me! Of course, it helps if you start the month off at your highest weight ever. I never weighed myself consistently this month, but every once in awhile I’d step on the scales. I continued to drop pounds as the month progressed until last week. By that point I decided I had enough food in the frig (from my previous adventures in cooking) that I didn’t need to do any more planning, shopping and cooking. I’m not sure if that was a good idea or not.
Since I had some pesto sauce in the frig (from a pesto salmon recipe I’d tried), I decided to enjoy some pasta with pesto. The spaghetti was yummy, but certainly filling. Then, to add insult to injury, I baked one of the pecan pies I’d planned to make for Christmas dinner with friends (which I ended up not having). So of course I had to have a couple pieces of pie every night.
The number on the scales increased a few pounds in the final few days, but I still lost (more than) one pound this month. But now that the holidays are over, it’s time to get back into the groove.
I must now bid adieu to the Five Ingredients/15 Minutes cookbook. My initial plan was to use the American Heart Association Cookbook, but because it’s so large, I found myself a little overwhelmed by it. So instead I’ll be using Saving Dinner, the Low-Carb Way. The cookbook is by Leanne Ely, a nutritionist I found through Flylady. I’ll talk more about the cookbook and the Saving Dinner website at Stream of Consciousness throughout the month of January.
Oh, and Happy New Year!
As the month (and the year) come to an end, it’s time to review what worked in the kitchen and what didn’t.
What worked:
- The Five Ingredients/15 Minutes cookbook. Great recipes and fairly easy. A good way to ease my way back into cooking regularly.
- Planning meals, preferably a month at a time. For me, it’s best to sit down once (maybe twice) at the beginning of the month to decide what I’m cooking and when. If I wait to plan the last half of the month in the last half of the month, it won’t get done.
- Vegetables are our friends. The big surprises were sugared carrot (which have more of a nutmeg taste than a brown sugar taste) and asparagus with blue cheese vinaigrette. The cauliflower with buttered bread crumbs was also quite good.
What didn’t work?
- Mushroom couscous. I was really looking forward to this dish. I took a couple bites, but on about the third, I spit it out and sent it down the drain. I’m not sure what went wrong. Maybe the couscous was too old, or the mushrooms were sliced too thickly (I bought them presliced), or beef broth shouldn’t have been the liquid of choice. I might try it again sometime, making some tweaks, but not for awhile.
- Chicken with roasted red pepper sauce. The chicken was fine. The roasted red pepper sauce was awful; which really surprised me because I like roasted red peppers. I ate one serving of it, but when it came time for leftovers, it went the way of the mushroom couscous. I was able to salvage the chicken with some pesto sauce I had on hand from a pesto salmon recipe I’d made earlier. And while the pesto salmon was good, I think the chicken was better.
And so tomorrow, in addition to maybe watching the Outback Bowl (go Hawks!), I’ll sit down with my American Heart Association Cookbook (5th edition of their first cookbook) and decide what I’ll be eating in January. As for what I’ll actually eat tomorrow, perhaps it will be leftovers from dinner out tonight.
One last post before I switch themes.
What a crappy Christmas. I woke up around 6 a.m. with a headache. Took some Advil, went back to sleep. Woke up about 9-ish, still had the headache. Took some Benadryl Allergy (thought it might be sinus related). My stomach didn’t feel up to my normal Christmas morning treat, orange cinnamon rolls, so I ate 1/3 bowl of oatmeal and had a little tea instead of my usual coffee. Put some Christmas music on and started opening presents. I didn’t make it through the CD or finish the presents. Went to bed and never got up again except to go to the bathroom and vomit.
I was able to get up on Friday, but still didn’t feel all that good until well into the afternoon. Yesterday I felt much better and got quite a bit of work done (mostly finishing up wrapping and packing presents* and breaking down boxes).
* I believe I have mentioned before that I don’t worry about getting Christmas presents out by the 25th. After all, if you get everything by Christmas day, what do you have to look forward to after Christmas? Nada. Which reminds me, I still need to get the gift cards sent. Somehow the 25th slipped up on me before I realized it. Probably because we’ve so busy at work.
I had been so looking forward to having 4 days off. Now it’s almost over. :( At least this week should be fairly quiet.
I think I’ll be heading back over to Stream of Consciousness after this.
Tags: Christmas
2008: the year I single-handedly helped the economy—but obviously not enough.
It was also the year I experienced my first ever broken bone and had a foot punch a hole in my ceiling.
The year started off with a whiz-bang. Well, more like a oof-bang. On the first Monday of 2008, I fell down the steps at work and fractured a bone in my foot. It’s the same leg I’d severely sprained about 20 years ago, and now I can truthfully say that a sprain does indeed hurt worse than a break.
Nothing much else happened this year that I can remember. Except that I bought a new computer (the old one crashed… hard), and a new HD television (so that I could enjoy the season premiere of Supernatural in its full glory after having suffered through the longest summer hiatus since the beginning of television. (Do I love this show? You bet! If you’re not watching Supernatural, you should be!)
I finished up the year by buying a new car. I’ve been trying to clear out the clutter in my home and found I really need the room an SUV provides. So, after some good research (thank you Consumer Reports online), I bought a Subaru Forester. But as I was driving it off the lot, I felt I’d made a horrible decision. I’ve always had a certain dislike of SUVs and mini-vans; and it drives so much differently than my (used) Lexus did. But now that that I’m getting used to it (and loading up the back), I’m quite pleased.
Oh, about that hole in the ceiling. Our condo building started having its roof replaced this fall. (It’s expected to continue until February. I just love the smell of tar in the morning.) My section was the first they did and is completely done now. But on the first day of work, one of the roofers fell through a hole in the roof and didn’t stop until he’d gone all the way through my ceiling. Fortunately, no one was hurt, and the roofing company paid for the damage. The contractor that did the repair did a fabulous job, so I’m keeping their number for other building fix-ups I may have.
Other than that, the cats and I are the same (Gigi is still a sweetheart, Kimmi a timid mouse, and Shadow an annoying… well, an annoying shadow), except another year older.
I always feel a little hypocritical when writing these summaries about me and then ending it with just a sentence of “I hope all is well with you.” But I do (hope all is well with you), and this format gives you a wonderful (and easy) way to reply. So, if you do stop by to read (even if it’s in August), you’re welcome to write a reply. (Thank you, Web 2.0!) I’d love to know what you’re up to, and get your e-mail address in the process. (And if you’re not tired of reading about me yet, you can check out my 2007 year in review as well.) 
Oops. I missed posting Tuesday here at SoC, although I did post at my new Theme Park, where I’m testing out various WordPress themes (designs, layouts) to see which would be the best for me to use as a template for my own theme. And because I need to be proficient in CSS (Cascading Style Sheets, what gives a web page its “look”) to create a WordPress theme, I’ve been trying my hand at the CSS Zen Garden. I’m studying some of the designs (& designers) there to help me get a better handle on CSS, and perhaps even inspire me in the process.
I actually finished a design yesterday. It’s pretty simple, but it still gave me lots of trouble. I do need to go in and clean up the CSS file, and tweek it just a little bit. But the great thing is it looks pretty much the same in Firefox, IE, and Safari (which of course is the reason for web standards in the first place). I don’t know about Opera, though. (Opera’s for Macs, isn’t it? Or do they have a PC version? Safari used to be Mac, I believe, but now there’s also a PC version. And yes, if I want to be serious about designing websites, I need to have a Mac. But no one pays me to do this, so I’ll just live in the PC world for now.)
Oh, I did also work on my 2008 Christmas letter. It’s basically done but I haven’t posted it yet. (It’s really short because this year kind of fell short, ya know?) I suppose that could have been my post for yesterday, but alas, twas not. I’ve kind of faded on this whole NaBloPoMo thing anyway. I never uploaded the “badges” and I don’t think any of my entries have been counted, because I haven’t entered them from their site. So, meh.
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