Thought Box

Site Updates

So, I’ve continued messing around with the blog because I love getting involved on mini-tech projects.  This time I installed about a dozen plugins and went to town making sure they work exactly how I want them to.  Most of them are “under the hood” type stuff, but there are a couple that you’ll notice and possibly take advantage of.

RosenBlog for Gamers
So, I don’t officially call my blog the RosenBlog, but I very well might in the near future…  The point, however, is that you can now view my blog in an optimized format on the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, Playstation Portable (PSP), or the Apple iPhone.  Each browser displays a tiny bit differently, and now I’m set to optimize for each of those browser configurations.

(Sorry, I don’t have screenshots…)

Greet Box
The Greet Box is kind of fun and new. Depending on how you get to the blog, you may find a semi-personalized message for you as you access a specific post. For Example, when coming from a Facebook.com link you might see the following:

These messages are pretty discreet and are easily closeable.  I think it’s kind of a fun way to encourage spreading the word…  This also works for those who come in from Digg, Reddit, or all by themselves (displays a recommendation to add an RSS feed).  Nothing too huge, but kind of fun.

Sociable
Sociable is a simple sharing tool that gives a reader quick access to the correct link in order to share a specific post with the rest of the world. You should see the following buttons beneath every post if you visit the actual post page (not just the main page with multiple posts listed).

Facebook Connect
Now my readers can post comments with their Facebook ID which does a couple different things… One, it makes them a “user” more or less that can have their comments tracked on the site (I think – pretty sure). The other is that it allows users to post directly to their Facebook Feed that they have visited my site and commented on one of the posts.

You’ll notice below (if you’re on the single post page, not the main feed homepage) that you now see the Facebook Connect button:

(Note that I hate the way it is currently formatted and I will be modifying it as soon as I can find the right code… The padding and the text above the button are hidden away in some .php file within the plugin, and I’m not finding it.)

Once logged in, you’ll see this fun addition to the corner of your browser window:

Once you’re logged in and setup you just jump down to the comments box, input your text and it will post your information while your credentials come from Facebook.

You’ll have the standard Facebook stuff pop up and ask you a couple questions (like if you want to post a note in your profile feed or not) and then your comment will be up for moderation. Nothing super amazingly spectacular, but I’m all about providing options to people, and I think this one is kind of cool.

Statpress
Ok, so this one isn’t one that the rest of you can see, but I think it’s cool enough to share… I installed Statpress to do some simple analytics work for me. Nothing super spectacular (though I can install a couple other plugins that would work in coordination with this one to provide a LOT of info), but I think it is pretty cool to get some basic information from my users in terms of how they got to the blog and what they’re checking out. I don’t get tons of traffic, nor do I care all that much, but I like to feed my curiosity every once in a while.

(click on the image to embiggen and actually see the text)

That’s about it! Just thought I’d share some things. Nothing huge to update in the personal life other than that I’m enjoying the summer and my friends. Definitely looking forward to Travis and Annie visiting (likely) around Thanksgiving, and I’m pumped for Tony’s wedding in September. Also, I turn OLD on July 6th… Weird…

Fiddler on the Roof

It’s no major secret that Fiddler on the Roof is probably my favorite musical…  I have been dying to see it in a professional show for years, trying to satiate my love for the story with the movie and semi-decent high school performances – but the wait is over!  Not only did I get to see the show performed by a professional company, but I got to see the greatest Tevye of all time – Topol!

When I first moved to Houston I took a look to see what shows would be coming through the area (not sure whether or not to trust the people who told me that the Theater District is one of the best) and I saw that this tour was coming through.  I pretty much Mountain Dew’d my pants on the spot and added 2 or 3 reminders to my calendar to check for tickets.  Eventually they come up on the ExxonMobil discount page (we get a small discount by purchasing group tickets) and I snapped up some good seats in the lower section towards the middle.  I got 4 tickets in my excitement!

My new best friend, Jenny, and I went with Matt Anderton and his wife (who was in the dark until we walked into the theatre and she finally saw a sign telling her what show we were there for – she was pretty euphoric).  Honestly, I had probably about 20 nerdgasms during the show as I tried to hold myself back from singing along and cheering during certain dance numbers.  Topol was everything I could have hoped to see in person – at the 74 years old he still has an incredibly powerful voice, a ton of character, and the energy to keep going!  Jenny and I noticed in the playbill that he has performed the role over 2,500 times throughout his career!  We may as well have been watching the real Tevye from the original short stories…

This was definitely one of the “Before You Die” goals that can now be crossed off.  I’m still smiling on a Monday morning back at work – and I hope the smile lasts for a looooooong time! :-D

New Homepage Design

The other day I was floating through some links on a friend’s blog and noticed my buddy Andy Wheatley’s website. The funny thing about that is that his page looks EXACTLY like mine. I actually thought I had hit the wrong link or perchance hit the “Back” button on my mouse, but nope! Check his page out here.

Anyway, I used this as an excuse to update the main page. I’m thinking of ways to modify it a bit more than I have, but I had about 15 minutes at work to play with something new, so this is what I went with:

click the image to enbiggen

Let me know what your thoughts are – I think I like the general “landing page” look to it. I’ll most likely change the image, but the guitar certainly works for the time being.

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Quick Update:

I’ve modified the look a little…. :-D

Click the Image to Enbiggen

Adjusting to Circumstances

I will feel badly if people think I am complaining about them (or even my own life) in this post – because I’m really not. So, if you’re amongst the group I will be referring to, don’t feel badly – this is purely an analysis of a new(ish) situation that I find kind of interesting.

It’s no secret that I am more of a socialite than a hermit, so when my social life goes through drastic changes it can have a major effect on the way that I function. With a large portion of my really close friends tying the knot or starting to have children, I am essentially one or two life phases behind the people I am closest to. This puts an added measure of pressure on me to continue making new friends and expanding my social circle, but given that Houston is a much different place than Provo, Utah I am experiencing what could be termed social shock.

Battling someone’s spouse and/or children for attention is not something I want to do (and definitely not a war I want to be winning, right?), but I don’t know if I’m really enjoying the process of continually looking for new friends to fill my life with when I would much rather be more involved with the friends I have already spent years developing relationships with. It’s unfortunate, because I know that once I have moved into a phase of life that is equal or only one step away from these people then I will not be experiencing the same frustration.

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By the way, I may or may not have just made up the word “grammaticide” to explain complete disregard for proper grammar to the point that it has essentially been murdered (like Utahns in Cache Valley saying “I might could….”).
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An example of the frustration is when a couple of my closest friends get together to do some jamming and canning and I was totally neglected and uninformed of such a fun adventure. Yes, that does sound more like something married couples would get together for, and a single guy wanting to show up to something like that is a little weird (sad…), but when I saw the pictures on a friend’s blog my heart sank a little. I don’t blame anyone for not being invited (and I certainly don’t want anyone feeling bad), but I bet the main reason I was left out was because I am single.

Though I’m frustrated, I certainly appreciate all of my friends who continue to stretch in order to include me into their lives. I know I’m making it difficult on some by being so stubborn about getting married, so I completely blame my feelings on myself. I can’t necessarily control my feelings, but I can control my responses to them – so hopefully I’m doing an alright job at that. Perhaps at some future date and time I will be able to participate in more of the “grown up” stuff and opportunities to be with those I’m close to that I feel like I’m missing out on.

Chip Meets a Storm Trooper

I caught this during the ten minutes when I actually had a break at work today

Seriously, some people are crazy creative – and it make life a wonderful thing!