I've gone ahead and implemented the black & white design that Rob worked up for me. Pretty sexy, eh? I love those clocks!

Don't worry, Rob. I saved everything before I started mucking about.

UPDATE: Had some problems to start but I got those fixed with MojoMark's tip. Have some problems now pointed out by Mog. The comments and individual archives still have the old styling. Not much I can do about that at the moment seeing as I'm pretty inept at design stuff. I tried switching stuff in and out but it didn't work (reference previous statement of general ineptitude). For now, just enjoy the beautiful clockworks on the main page and consider the other pages a tribute to a venerable warrior that served honorably and continues stolidly onward despite knowing his doom approaches.

Posted by: Jim at 11:40 AM | Comments (25) | Add Comment
Post contains 141 words, total size 1 kb.

1 Love the clocks in the posts, very snazzy. They remind me of clocks.

Posted by: Tuning Spork at January 31, 2004 12:00 PM (Q316n)

2 In Firebird .7, clicking on the Comments link opens a new window like normal, but also changes the base screen to the same comments content.

Posted by: MojoMark at January 31, 2004 12:22 PM (FXawF)

3 But I do like the new look!

Posted by: MojoMark at January 31, 2004 12:22 PM (FXawF)

4 MojoMark - weird, it's the same in Mozilla 1.6. Not sure why; I took a quick look at the HTML and it looks right to me.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at January 31, 2004 12:57 PM (jtW2s)

5 Me too--maybe I'll come back in IE and see what happpens.. And Jim, I miss the teal!!!!!

Posted by: Susie at January 31, 2004 01:22 PM (0+cMc)

6 Well, well--it's a bug, not a feature...doing it with IE too...

Posted by: Susie at January 31, 2004 01:23 PM (0+cMc)

7 there is a line break between the "return" and the "false" on the comments onClick event. seems to interpret it poorly. see trackback, it works fine.

Posted by: MojoMark at January 31, 2004 03:21 PM (FXawF)

8 Wow, pretty embarrassing for the QA guy, eh? That was it, Mark. All fixed now, folks. My thanks and 2 points to MojoMark!

Posted by: Jim at January 31, 2004 03:34 PM (fkewd)

9 is good. me like.

Posted by: Trey Givens at January 31, 2004 03:43 PM (vsEV6)

10 Very Nice.

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at January 31, 2004 03:52 PM (CSxVi)

11 I wanted the blue and orange one! Can't you make it a skin?

Posted by: ilyka at January 31, 2004 05:57 PM (d08lb)

12 Skins are the plan but that's beyond my meager abilities. Black & White had the hover fix for the collapsable lists already in the stylesheet so I went with that one.

Posted by: Jim at January 31, 2004 07:22 PM (fkewd)

13 Very nice work! The clocks in the blog body look terrific.

Posted by: Jess at January 31, 2004 08:13 PM (4irIN)

14 Don't forget to set your background colour ;-) body{ line-height: 1; margin: 0; padding: 0; font-family:Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; background-color: white; }

Posted by: snafu at January 31, 2004 10:45 PM (CnRw2)

15 Awesome look!!!!! Black and white work for me. I also LOVE the clocks. Keep up the great writing. I read everyday

Posted by: Linda at January 31, 2004 11:03 PM (3XIYy)

16 I love it. Well done. One tiny criticsm, and please don't be angry-the text is awfully narrow and in a small font. Me have headache from tiny text. Me also have hangover, so possibly the two are related.

Posted by: Helen at February 01, 2004 01:37 PM (4QsPZ)

17 God lord ... I'm out of it for a little while and every ones getting delusions of grandeur. Jim, there are templates worked up for the comment pages which apply the styling but there's the whole blog.mu.nu issue to work round (that ones been givin me big ole headaches recently) There's also the 3rd design and the skinable script which is ready to roll out but I'm just not sure how to mod it to work with the other mu.nu blogs ... plus I'll need FTP access to do it properly (well quickly). I'll send you an email tomorrow when I'm not covered in paint (long story) and have a desk (equally long story)

Posted by: Rob at February 01, 2004 04:24 PM (tYI8N)

18 oh and helen - I'm working on a spacing fix for the text - you're right, probably too tight!

Posted by: Rob at February 01, 2004 04:25 PM (tYI8N)

19 All this ticking. First Helen with her Keifer Sutherland, now this! Tic, toc, tic, toc...

Posted by: Simon at February 02, 2004 05:06 AM (FUPxT)

20 That's right. Kiefer and I started all of this. That's for sure.

Posted by: Helen at February 02, 2004 08:04 AM (I+ahF)

21 Cool look, but I miss the simplicity of the old design. I'll be happy, though, as long as the cow picture is somewhere. WHERE'D YOU PUT THE COW PICTURE?!

Posted by: Mike the Marine at February 02, 2004 08:54 AM (Zw7Hl)

22 About time. looks good.

Posted by: pylorns at February 02, 2004 09:40 AM (FTYER)

23 The cow has been recovered. It's linked in the "about me" section of the sidebar.

Posted by: Jim at February 02, 2004 10:12 AM (IOwam)

24 Since you asked... The line spacing makes it a bit difficult to read anything longer than three or four sentences. [check the line spacing in the comments] This is just a personal preference, but I think that a sans serif font is a little easier to read. [again, check the font in the comments] A nice roll-down script for your comments and extended entries would be a nice addition to make it a more reader-friendly site. I just hate waiting for the comment box to open, open a new window that I will have to close, switching back and forth between another window, etc. Other than that a very nice design... kudos to Mr Rob!

Posted by: The Bartender at February 03, 2004 05:17 PM (QnE1J)

25 Pretty. Not pink enough, but pretty.

Posted by: LeeAnn at February 03, 2004 10:36 PM (HxCeX)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

UPDATE: Time's up! All are aboard that are coming aboard. Now the waiting begins. Who will be the point winners? Ooooh...you can cut the tension with a butter knife. more...

Posted by: Jim at 07:05 AM | Comments (55) | Add Comment
Post contains 405 words, total size 3 kb.

1 My guess is February 19. Barring any of those monstrous Paris Hilton deals, of course. And why the HELL are you getting 4 times as many visits as I do, yet I get maybe 10 times as many comments?!

Posted by: Helen at January 21, 2004 08:03 AM (hCzWQ)

2 I reckon a more conservative estimate of 03/03/04 of course I could guess for tommorow and just set a bot running but that would be cheating .. wouldn't it?

Posted by: rob at January 21, 2004 08:44 AM (kXZI6)

3 Helen - It's because I'm an erratic poster. People check back through the day to see if I've launched another gem (or another turd as the case may be). You consistently post once per day at around the same time. See? Irregularity has its benefits. And about the comments - the vast majority of my stuff is of the "read and groan" or "read and wonder why you wasted the time" varieties. Yours are almost always "read and BY GOD I've got to respond to that" type. Rob - Yes, that would be cheating and not only would I pout, I'd also pitch a hissy fit. But I'd probably still exult at hitting 100,000 all the same. What can I say? I'm shallow like that.

Posted by: Jim at January 21, 2004 09:10 AM (IOwam)

4 ok so maybe I can start the bot and then people can guess how much it costs me in connection charges to get you up to 200,000 ... but frankly, I can't be arsed. I'm far to busy hitting penguins for 6

Posted by: rob at January 21, 2004 09:16 AM (kXZI6)

5 Phew! Thank God for penguins and Yetis.

Posted by: Jim at January 21, 2004 09:18 AM (IOwam)

6 Hello. Average 1,300 hits per day, you're at 83,000 now - I'm guessing 2/21. And I'll probably account for 20-30 of those hits.

Posted by: Brian Jones at January 21, 2004 09:44 AM (E4NcZ)

7 My guess, Jim, will be 2/29/04. You got it baby...Leap Year.

Posted by: Tiffani at January 21, 2004 10:05 AM (0i1dP)

8 Ooh, Tiffani chose a good date. Damn, wish I'd thought of that. Rob-my personal best with the penguins is now 578. Ha!

Posted by: Helen at January 21, 2004 10:28 AM (I9OSd)

9 20 Feb...... I just want to be close to Helen......

Posted by: Mike the Marine at January 21, 2004 10:29 AM (IOX+E)

10 It will be Feb 4th.

Posted by: pylorns at January 21, 2004 11:15 AM (fD1hc)

11 My guess is March 1st.

Posted by: Sue at January 21, 2004 12:04 PM (rZmE1)

12 damn 577.6 and I can't beat it ... this is worse than that game where you push the bloke down the stairs...

Posted by: rob at January 21, 2004 12:11 PM (kXZI6)

13 There's a game for that? Wow, all those years of real life practice will finally pay off in the virtual world!

Posted by: Jim at January 21, 2004 12:23 PM (IOwam)

14 February 18th, I'm betting on slightly increasing views over the course of the month. and how come the "Remember personal info?" never works for me? are you Mozilla challenged here too?

Posted by: MojoMark at January 21, 2004 02:10 PM (E+LQu)

15 The remember info thing is a bit goofy and I still don't really understand why. It's something to do with the setup here in Munuviana. Many blogs sharing the same comment system. It should be remembering your info across blogs if you're on an individual archive page and when you come back to the same comments only page. If not, it might be your cookie settings.

Posted by: Jim at January 21, 2004 02:25 PM (IOwam)

16 Dang! 100,000 is a heckuva lot of hits. I'm still working on getting up to 65,000 but that's alright. Another sports star will allegedly molest a hotel worker and I'll get a 30,000 hit boost. But I will put my money on March the 11th.

Posted by: Johnny Huh? at January 21, 2004 02:57 PM (AyewP)

17 Feb 25th. Because it's not yet taken. And if I hit the refresh button enough times that day I might make it!

Posted by: Simon at January 22, 2004 03:58 AM (aPjRW)

18 well, I'm not too good at forecasting these sort of random events, so I'll pick Feb 13th, my son's birthday!

Posted by: jim at January 22, 2004 09:39 AM (lN8eP)

19 I'm sure it will be February 17. Hope that's better than my Iowa prediction.

Posted by: Dan Spencer at January 22, 2004 01:38 PM (KZyUq)

20 February 23. Is that better? Did I underestimate your charisma enough this time.

Posted by: LeeAnn at January 22, 2004 06:36 PM (HxCeX)

21 Please let it be on my birthday. (February 10 for those playing at home.)

Posted by: margi at January 22, 2004 07:07 PM (kpNlZ)

22 Shoot. I have to re-learn my freakin' URL. Sorry 'bout that. But hey, I have a very motivated expression on my face right now. Aheh.

Posted by: margi at January 22, 2004 07:08 PM (kpNlZ)

23 Feb 24th

Posted by: Tuning Spork at January 22, 2004 09:18 PM (52bP5)

24 I din't say Feb 02! I said Feb 21! Unless Rob really does his bot thing...

Posted by: Brian Jones at January 23, 2004 09:56 AM (E4NcZ)

25 Oops! Sorry Brian. It's fixed now.

Posted by: Jim at January 23, 2004 10:01 AM (IOwam)

26 Ok..I really wish it would be Mar 31, for my birthday, but I know it's going to be March 5...

Posted by: Mitzi at January 24, 2004 09:50 PM (uvaqj)

27 I bet that Sitemeter will crash on Feb 22, and that they will discover that all their recent backups are bad. Therefore you will not make the 100,000 mark until Jul 03.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at January 25, 2004 07:11 AM (jtW2s)

28 100,000 in just over 4 months? I'm flattered.

Posted by: Jim at January 25, 2004 08:32 AM (fkewd)

29 I'll pick March 13! That's my co worker's birthday and also another co worker is getting married that day. It may bring me luck too

Posted by: Linda at January 28, 2004 08:01 AM (k9RaT)

30 I can't believe I didn't respond to this earlier! I'm such a schmuck, and now I've let Rob beat me (yet again)! So if I can't have my birthday, I'll just go one day before. Please sign me up for March 2nd. (Absolutely no scientific research went in to choosing this semi-arbitrary date.)

Posted by: Clancy at January 28, 2004 10:36 AM (EGVPL)

31 Put me down for March 4, if no one's got it yet.

Posted by: Joey at January 29, 2004 12:31 AM (Sk2Wf)

32 Clancy - I've revised my algorithm* and March the 2nd is now the outright leader with a predictive probability of 62.32% Wanna swap? *a truly scientific methodology which has nothing to do with calendars and a dartboard - honest!

Posted by: Robert at January 29, 2004 06:39 AM (kXZI6)

33 Rob - thanks for the offer, but I think I'll stick with 3/2.... I was late. Very late.

Posted by: Clancy at January 29, 2004 08:55 AM (EGVPL)

34 I have to agree with Rob. My algorithm (which takes into account the phases of the moon and their effect on browsing patterns — or something like that) predicts March 2 as well. Since that wasn't available I had to sign up for the next date that was.

Posted by: Joey at January 29, 2004 11:15 AM (Sk2Wf)

35 Despite being the holder of the highly prized spot, I believe it's gonna happen earlier. We haven't taken in account all extra refresh clickage that will be going on to boost the date.... I've gotta stop coming back here so often - I'm just boosting his numbers now....

Posted by: Clancy at January 29, 2004 11:28 AM (EGVPL)

36 I'll take Feb 14, that holiday was invented for me and the wife. Thank you

Posted by: AlGore at January 29, 2004 05:47 PM (c0+Pw)

37 Al! Welcome back. Thought we lost you, you've been so quiet lately. A true romantic, too. Very nice.

Posted by: Jim at January 29, 2004 08:09 PM (IOwam)

38 C'mon Jim. You're falling behind. We need some scandal, some google bait, something. Feb 18 is coming too quickly and the sitemeter seems to be in slow motion. Here, try this..... JOSH DUHAMEL NAKED PICTURES. that got me over 1700 hits just yesterday (my average is about 300)

Posted by: MojoMark at January 30, 2004 12:34 PM (E+LQu)

39 I don't think it'll help since I don't have Sitemeter counters in the comments. Hmmm...I bet I could double my hits if I put those in...

Posted by: Jim at January 30, 2004 01:01 PM (IOwam)

40 March 7, hey why not.

Posted by: mog at January 31, 2004 09:57 PM (Dqis0)

41 Bitch... where's my Josh pics???

Posted by: Josh Fan at February 04, 2004 04:18 PM (ttYCf)

42 Uh...what? What is a Josh pic? I've got The Joshua Tree but I'm sure not planning on giving it up.

Posted by: Jim at February 04, 2004 04:29 PM (IOwam)

43 crap, your JJ boobalanche has thrown my predictions out of the window ... looks like it will fall 6 - 8 days from now!

Posted by: rob at February 06, 2004 01:16 PM (kXZI6)

44 Yes, the bounty of boobies continues to fall upon me. You should have used double exponential smoothing in your algorithm. It would have predicted Janet's boob show. Or at least the effects of it.

Posted by: Jim at February 06, 2004 02:05 PM (IOwam)

45 Ease up Sitemeter. You're just grinding metal.

Posted by: MojoMark at February 06, 2004 03:42 PM (E+LQu)

46 God lord we're getting close now aren't we...

Posted by: Rob at February 10, 2004 04:00 PM (VJffY)

47 Yup. It's that last sprint to the finish line. Will Margi get it today? If it happens tomorrow, how shall I distribute the points as nobody picked that date. Oooooooh, the pressure's getting to me.

Posted by: Jim at February 10, 2004 04:02 PM (IOwam)

48 I've applied a lot of scientifical (that's a real word, you know?) analysis to this problem and I hereby predict the magic date to be February 11th. When I said March 2nd before I was just guessing based on itÂ’s proximity to my birthday... Anyway - you read it here first!

Posted by: Clancy at February 10, 2004 08:32 PM (9Cq92)

49 Wow, Clancy. I think you might be right! Damn, you're good.

Posted by: Jim at February 10, 2004 08:45 PM (saeHM)

50 hahahaahaha it will not be the 11th, it will be the 12th (wait, is this one of those time zone issues again? I mean you guys are over an international date line and all ... so basically we in the UK are however many days ahead it takes to make it March 3rd on what ever day you hit the Hundred thou - yeah that works and I'll even upload a photo of my watch to prove it!)

Posted by: Robert at February 11, 2004 09:06 AM (kXZI6)

51 Nice try, Rob, but I happen to know that it is already April in the UK so you've missed your date. Besides, to make things easy on me (and really, isn't that what should be your major concern at all times?) all times are Atlanta local. That's EST (aka GMT-5).

Posted by: Jim at February 11, 2004 09:34 AM (IOwam)

52 Ta Da! The winner is.... nobody.

Posted by: MojoMark at February 11, 2004 06:24 PM (E+LQu)

53 No dead on winner but I'll be distributing those points as promised to the folks closest to the date. Hey, Rob! Can I muck about in my sidebar yet?

Posted by: Jim at February 11, 2004 06:31 PM (saeHM)

54 #100,003 Ta Da! and the winner is..... Nobody! Janet Jackson's Boob was the killer, skewing all scientific theories.

Posted by: MojoMark at February 11, 2004 06:39 PM (E+LQu)

55 The 100,000th visit was by someone on the aol network at a shade past 5:00 PM. A tenth of a million. Hot damn!

Posted by: Jim at February 11, 2004 10:05 PM (saeHM)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

I was just reading about it being Michele's 3rd blogiversary and I realized that it's my own .5th blogiversary. (Or would that be hemi-anni-blogiversary?)

6 months of Snoozitude. That floors me. It feels like just yesterday when I started this thing.

No maudlin' or "what I've learned" stuff this time - you'll get punished with that when the blog's a year old. This post is really just an excuse for another point earning opportunity for y'all.

POINTS: 2 points for the artist of the song in the title of this post. 1st correct answer only, of course. And no searching, of course. And it's all on the honor system so I won't know if you cheat, of course. But I'm pretty sure y'all are as honest as Clancy since it's just for fun, of course. I'll stop with the "of course" stuff now, of course.

Damn, just couldn't resist that one more. I stepped over the line, didn't I? Turned it right from mildly amusing (or at least only slightly pathetic) right to irritating. I'm such a slave to my impulses.

Posted by: Jim at 10:55 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
Post contains 185 words, total size 1 kb.

Occasionally, when I have absolutely no idea what to post desire to give y'all a particularly lighthearted and spirited little humorous romp, I'll delve into the recent searches on my site to see what people are looking for when they find this site out of the blue. I then generally humiliate them for our collective amusement try to help those poor souls who couldn't find what they were looking for here. Shall we begin? more...

Posted by: Jim at 06:25 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 236 words, total size 2 kb.

Well, technically I need you to submit to Dodgeblogium. They're the hosts for the January 26 edition of the Bestofme Symphony. Send your submissions to bestofme@jpeacock.net.

Remember, the only requirements are that you think the post is good and that it be at least 2 months old. Not a blogger? Send in a post from a favorite weblog.

Posted by: Jim at 12:57 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 64 words, total size 1 kb.

ItÂ’s time to send those submissions in for the Bestofme Symphony. Robert at XSet will be hosting the January 19 edition. To make sure he receives your submissions send them to bestofme@jpeacock.net.

Remember, the only requirements are that you think the post is good and that it be at least 2 months old. Not a blogger? Send in a post from a favorite weblog.

Would you like to be a host for the Symphony? Just send an email to jim@jpeacock.net and let me know.

Want to get handy reminders to submit for the Symphony and to be notified when a new Symphony is posted? Send an email to bestofmereminder@jpeacock.net. Can't get much easier than that now, can it?

As always, thank you for supporting the Bestofme Symphony.

Posted by: Jim at 02:36 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 135 words, total size 1 kb.

I can't believe that I forgot to mention that today is Crappy Post Day*!

I suspended Crappy Post Day over the holidays as it would have been an almost daily occurence and I didn't want to rename the blog to Snooze Button Crap. But since the holiday fury is over and the out of town guests are all departed (as in "gone", not "dead") I've actually started writing real posts again, which means the return of Crappy Post Day. Yay!

* Crappy Post Day is what happens when I haven't the time to write up an actual amusing or meaninful post using my very own prodigious writing talents. All you get on Crappy Post Day are links to other places and stuff fed to me by my many contributors (mainly Lovely Wife and Dopple-G).

Posted by: Jim at 09:23 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 142 words, total size 1 kb.

Or at least get it off of Blog*Spot. So far almost 50 weblogs have joined the Great Blog*Spot Exodus. This is one hell of a deal. Free hosting for three years and experienced MT veterans to get your weblog set up. The only money expense is domain registration and that's a measly $5.99.

What are you [*cough* Ryan *cough*] waiting for? You [*cough* Ryan *cough*] know who you [*cough* Ryan *cough*] are.

UPDATE: There's a little sense of urgency here too, as the free hosting offer ends on January 21.

POINTS: 2 points for the first person to identify my source for the title of this post. No searchifying!

Posted by: Jim at 11:22 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 110 words, total size 1 kb.

Get those submissions in for the first Symphony to be hosted outside of Snooze Button Dreams. The Bestofme Symphony road tour starts this coming Monday with Ilyka Damen. Submissions received through midnight on Sunday (Eastern Standard Time) will be included in Monday's Symphony. Anything received after the cutoff will go into the following week's edition.

Submission Address

Submission Guidelines & Symphony Info

Host a Bestofme Symphony. The tour schedule is filling up nicely but there are many concert dates still available.

Symphony Archives

Webloggers: How about a little linky love to help drum up submissions for Ilyka's Symphony? She's just a girl so she needs all the help we can give her. [Pardon me for a moment while I dodge that uppercut.]

All y'all: You can submit any post, whether it's yours or not and whether you're a blogger or not. It only has to be good (in your opinion) and 2 months old.

Thanks for your support!

Posted by: Jim at 02:53 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 156 words, total size 1 kb.

I've had 989 comments since moving here to Munuviana*. 11 more to the magical 1000. That's pretty cool and will probably happen tonight or tomorrow morning. I think I'll commemmorate the occasion with a 2 point gift to the poster of the magical 1000th comment.

* I have no idea how many comments I had back on Blog*Spot.

Posted by: Jim at 09:59 AM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
Post contains 64 words, total size 1 kb.

1 I should hit my 2000th comment in the next few days. Feels cool, doesn't it? 10 more to go...

Posted by: Helen at January 06, 2004 10:28 AM (nYt9w)

2 I'll be back later--I need the points! (Sort of feels like one of those radio shows where you have to be the 11th caller or something...)

Posted by: Susie at January 06, 2004 10:33 AM (0+cMc)

3 Wow!

Posted by: Clancy at January 06, 2004 11:04 AM (EGVPL)

4 That's pretty cool!

Posted by: Clancy at January 06, 2004 11:05 AM (EGVPL)

5 Would this be considered cheating?

Posted by: Clancy at January 06, 2004 11:06 AM (EGVPL)

6 You know - like repeatedly calling the radio station when they make an announcement about being the 100th caller... Are you paying attention Susie? Editor's note: Yah, it's a definite naughty maneuver. Now cease and desist or you will be struck repeatedly with an undercooked spaghetti. I'll count that montage of posts as a single unit.

Posted by: Clancy at January 06, 2004 11:09 AM (EGVPL)

7 If I'm counting right - there were 4 other comments below this thread - this is it! (Or maybe the prior one...) In any case - Happy 1000th comment!

Posted by: Clancy at January 06, 2004 11:14 AM (EGVPL)

8 I actually did stop to read everyone elses posts - there is clearly a 5 minute gap between tpost number 999 and 1000. You can't argue with the database when it says that the record count now exceeds 1000 and record ID number 1000 belongs to me!!!! Muh ha ha ha ha!!!

Posted by: Clancy at January 06, 2004 11:17 AM (EGVPL)

9 Man, a girl goes out into the sub-zero weather to take her popper doors to be replaced and she comes back to find she's been out commented by a non-blogger! The outrage! (Clancy, did you count the comments I made on the other posts on this page?

Posted by: Susie at January 06, 2004 11:20 AM (0+cMc)

10 Susie - yeah I did. There were 3-4 below that came after the 9:59 AM post of this thread. And as for being a non-blogger - that will change soon. I've had a domain for a while (thanks to a post by Kevin @ Wizbang) and I downloaded MT over the weekend, I just haven't gotten it set up yet. I have so many hobbies I reluctant to start something and not keep up with it, but I do enjoy writing so I'm gonna give it a go. I have a couple of ideas, and I want to set the blog up a bit non-standard (I'm sick like that) so it may take a couple of weeks but the world will learn about the guy behind the Clancy moniker (assuming they have any interest whatsoever).

Posted by: Clancy at January 06, 2004 11:30 AM (EGVPL)

11 Okay, let's see here...if we count the first four Clancy's as one post...carry the three...adjust for the cost of living increases... The big winner is either Clancy, Susie or me. I'm already a winner (you read the post about my Lovely Wife's bundt, right?) so I'm going to handle this the French way for Clancy and Susie. We'll split the prize and give 'em each one. (That's not the "royal WE" there, I have a mouse in my pocket.) And Clancy, when you get that sucker up and running be sure to give me a holler. I'll be happy to help you get some starter traffic.

Posted by: Jim at January 06, 2004 11:51 AM (IOwam)

12 Cool. But don't do it the french way - that way would involve just giving us all your points, and your site and everything else, but only after Susie and I threatened you with physical harm. I think you could call it the Dutch way - where we split the bill, err, winnings that is. But of course that begs the question - why in the heck do we call that "going Dutch?" Where did that expression come from? As for the site - I'll definitely let you know once it's up, relatively bug free and I've got some content...

Posted by: Clancy at January 06, 2004 12:40 PM (EGVPL)

13 There's a question for "Ask Jen", Clancy!

Posted by: Susie at January 06, 2004 01:00 PM (0+cMc)

14 Wow - it's nothing like vocalizing that you're going to do something that makes you do it. Movabletype 2.65 installed and functioning. Now I just have to figure out how to make everything purdy! And no - I won't post a url until I'm good and ready...

Posted by: Clancy at January 06, 2004 09:48 PM (6HLyB)

15 So I guess I'm too late in all this then?

Posted by: Simon at January 07, 2004 02:03 AM (GWTmv)

16 Just a bit, Simon. I'll try to put the next point opportunitity up at an ungodly hour of the morning here so it's afternoonish for you.

Posted by: Jim at January 07, 2004 04:10 AM (fkewd)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

The numbers are in. Thanks to everybody who linked to me in December. Special kudos to the top dogs:

Top 10 Referers for December
Everyday Stranger
Electric Venom
Anger Management
Rachel Lucas
XSet
Phillip Coons
Madfish Willie's Cyber Saloon
Wizbang
Wetwired
Jennifer's History and Stuff

I'm going to work this into the sidebar. Of course I said that last month too so no breath holding, please!

Posted by: Jim at 12:24 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 74 words, total size 1 kb.

Get those submissions in for the Bestofme Symphony! Submissions received through midnight on Sunday (Eastern Standard Time) will be included in Monday's Symphony. Anything received after the cutoff will go into the following week's edition.

It's another holiday week and that means another week of light submissions. Last week saw a late rally to bring the Symphony up to snuff and I've got my fingers crossed for a repeat performance. This will be the last Symphony held at Snooze Button Dreams for a while as the Symphony will be going on tour the week following. Help me to send it off in style!

Submission Address

Submission Guidelines & Symphony Info

Host a Bestofme Symphony. Be the envy of your neighborhood and get on the Leader Board at the same time!

Symphony Archives

Webloggers: Link to this post and you'll get a tiny bit of good karma. This can be redeemed for valuable prizes in the afterlife.

All y'all: You can submit any post, whether it's yours or not and whether you're a blogger or not. It only has to be good (in your opinion) and 2 months old.

Thanks for your support!

Posted by: Jim at 01:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 198 words, total size 1 kb.

Not even a nibble for a blogger willing to take the Bestofme Symphony out on tour? Very well then, I'll resort to bribery. The first person to volunteer to host the Symphony will get 5 points. That's enough to put you smack dab in the middle of the Leader Board. Or for somebody already on the board to surge to the top. Point reward will decrease by one for each host after that until it gets to one point, where it will stay. Yes, that's right - you heard correctly. Every Symphony host will get at least one point. Hot damn!

There are other benefits to conducting the Symphony, though. First, the schedule of Symphonies will be in my sidebar with a link to the appropriate blogs. Second, when you actually host the Symphony you'll get massive amounts of traffic and probably pick up some new regular readers. Third, I'll name my next child after you.

Okay, so we're not having any more kids, but if we were I'd do that!

Conducting the Symphony is as painless as possible. The only requirements are:

• No censorship - If you have a problem with a post, posts, abuse of the Symphony, etc, just pass it to me for resolution.


• Post it on the scheduled Monday.


• Email me when you post it.

Pretty easy, eh? Some suggestions that have worked for me:

• For the honor spot (first link in the Symphony), find a post from a blog on your own blogroll. This is sweet for two reasons. First, it gets you looking back into the archives of blogs you already like - something that might not happen otherwise. Second, it gets great exposure for a blog that you like.


• For the closing entry (last link in the Symphony), find a post from your own blog's archives.


• Consider emailing the people who submitted entries when you've got the link for the newly posted Symphony. It helps get the word out that the Symphony is up and it gets links to the Symphony.


• Keep it simple. Yes, big is beautiful but simple is readable. You don't have to be as spartan as I am but I definitely recommend keeping it relatively clean and neat as opposed to colorful and complicated.

I'm planning on putting the Symphony on the road starting with the January 13 edition as I'll be hosting the Carnival of the Vanities that week and the two together might be a bit overwhelming. So who's up to the job? Just email me or post in the comments here if you are interested.

UPDATE: Bribery works! We've got 2 and a half volunteer conductors already. Sidebar schedule to come out some time today.

UPDATE 2: Sidebar schedule added and Leader Board updated. Who else wants some?

Posted by: Jim at 02:24 PM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
Post contains 476 words, total size 3 kb.

LeeAnn might have the tops for wacked out searches but my humble site attracts its own share of wierdness. Here's a couple from over the holiday weekend (Paris and Joe searches excluded because they bore me now):

cruise missile stops at red light
Is that why Bill couldn't bag Osama?

look my vagina
Where? I missed it. Come back!

boner hard-on peeing
This is actually a competitive sport in remote regions of Nepal.

boy in plastic pants
You're too late! I've destroyed the film evidence.

things women hate about men
This again? If I told you once, I've told you a dozen times, it's our inability to find anything that has been moved by our evil significant others who then tell us to look past our own noses before yelling out "Where the hell is my toothbrush"! Or something like that.

Posted by: Jim at 10:26 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 159 words, total size 1 kb.

"Play Again" functionality won't work at the moment as the script is within a post. Refresh if you want to see it again.

Posted by: Jim at 08:10 AM | Comments (18) | Add Comment
Post contains 143 words, total size 2 kb.

1 Don't worry about the error when trying to "Play again". That's just because the script is within a post.

Posted by: Jim at December 28, 2003 08:13 AM (fkewd)

2 Play what again? Do I need to break out my IE to see what's supposed to be in the empty space?

Posted by: Susie at December 28, 2003 09:37 AM (0+cMc)

3 yeah, I'm getting a big fat nuthin from both Mozilla and Opera and in IE it looks a little ... well how can I put this nicely ... tacky ? If I want to see the text of a site moving, fading and undulating before my very eyes I'll hit the Absinthe before I read it ;-)

Posted by: Rob at December 28, 2003 09:53 AM (3zn9b)

4 More software prejudiced against Mozilla!!! (saw it with IE)

Posted by: Susie at December 28, 2003 09:54 AM (0+cMc)

5 Hmmm... Less than sterling endorsement thus far. Where are all of my widget loving, IE using, readers?

Posted by: Jim at December 28, 2003 10:41 AM (fkewd)

6 I think it's coo'

Posted by: Jennifer at December 28, 2003 11:28 AM (68gxG)

7 Where are all of my widget loving, IE using, readers? Yo! I love it.

Posted by: ilyka at December 28, 2003 11:31 AM (Wf/A7)

8 flash?

Posted by: pylorns at December 28, 2003 12:00 PM (fD1hc)

9 I think we can safely count on a thumbs up from The Bartender and a thumb down from Pixy. Fairly close, but still slightly against. Anybody else have an opinion? Pylorns - Nope, no Flash here. It's all scripting. Smoothest transition I've ever seen out of script, that's why I liked it.

Posted by: Jim at December 28, 2003 12:42 PM (fkewd)

10 Pylorns, you're in the wrong part of town to be requesting flashes. You need to come down to my neck of the woods for that. Did NOT mean I was providing such, of course. But that old freak on the bus.....

Posted by: LeeAnn at December 28, 2003 12:55 PM (HxCeX)

11 LIKE IT!!!

Posted by: Mitzi at December 28, 2003 01:30 PM (OfYve)

12 I thinks it's cool... I've been trying to figure out where to that little thingy myself... Pixy will never see it because he uses the Mozilla Monster... since most of your readers use IE and the ones that don't like it use Mozilla and can't see it anyway, I would do it to see what it will look like. I'm interested to see how it will work.

Posted by: The Bartender at December 28, 2003 06:18 PM (Jj2gq)

13 Jim: In my skin, I think the body text is just a bit too small and the post text is unreadable at View:Smaller. When I crank up the text size, the tret in the sidebar gets too big. Just an FYI. Also I made a little bitty tweak in the site credits.

Posted by: The Bartender at December 28, 2003 09:21 PM (Jj2gq)

14 I like it!

Posted by: Sue at December 28, 2003 11:32 PM (PbT+r)

15 Methinks it's not for me after all. It's suitable for an announcement of some sort but not really for taglines. It's also pretty chunky size-wise.

Posted by: Jim at December 29, 2003 04:25 AM (fkewd)

16 I like it, but then again, I'm a geek. But I also have a question... If it's just script (and it is - I peeked under the covers) - why can't Mozilla and Opera deal with it? Or is it the style elements (that are changing) that they don't understand? Eventually, I will get my own site up. And for you 2% out there using Mozilla and Opera I have only one thing to say - I'm sorry if your cheesy browsers can't read my site.

Posted by: Clancy at December 29, 2003 11:04 AM (EGVPL)

17 I really don't know why Mozilla and Opera can't see it. Something about how they're processing (or not processing) the script, I assume. "Play Again" works now. Turns out the problem was a header declaration for target=main. Took that out and it functions correctly.

Posted by: Jim at December 29, 2003 01:42 PM (IOwam)

18 Sweet! (Got here from Venomous Kate's comments section, btw)

Posted by: Jon at December 30, 2003 11:00 AM (B9rRW)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Get those submissions in for the Bestofme Symphony! Submissions received through midnight on Sunday (Eastern Standard Time) will be included in Monday's Symphony. Anything received after the cutoff will go into the following week's edition.

Traffic is pretty light due to the holiday and some DNS problems so the Symphony is looking a bit like an ensemble at the moment. That means I'll be even more grateful than usual for any submissions you send in.

Symphony Archives

Submission Address

Submission Guidelines & Symphony Info

Want to host a Bestofme Symphony?

Webloggers: How about some link love?

All y'all: Remember that you don't have to be the author of a post in order to submit it.

Thanks for your support!

Posted by: Jim at 11:05 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 127 words, total size 1 kb.

Starting January 13, the Bestofme Symphony will be going on tour. There will be a couple of requirements for the conductors:

• No censorship - If you receive spammish entries, flooding entries, entries that you find reprehensible, etceteras, check with me. The default is everything goes and the decision to stifle anything will be my burden.


• The first post of the Bestofme Symphony (the first chair?) should be a submission by you for a post in another weblog's archives.


• Post the Symphony on the scheduled date.

And that's it. Not too bad, is it? I suggest keeping it easy to read and navigate but however you want to format it, theme it, etceteras is totally up to you. During the week before your Symphony, all submissions sent to the regular submission address will be forwarded to the email address you specify. You may also email people, post, comment or otherwise make a pest of yourself to drum up support for your performance. When you've posted the Symphony you need to email me so I can send out notices to people on the reminder list. I also send an email to the people who've submitted posts that week and it would be nice if you did the same thing but it's not a requirement.

Anybody still interested? Comment here with the date you would like to conduct the Symphony. First come, first served. Reserved dates are the 26th (Jun 7) and 52nd (Dec 6) performances - anything else is fair game. Don't forget to include the email address that you want submissions forwarded to. If you're leary of posting that in the comments then send it to me via email.

Posted by: Jim at 07:18 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 318 words, total size 2 kb.

The first two designs from Robert at XSet are up and viewable. Please take a moment to check them over and comment on the looks:

Elegance (black/white)
Dreamy (blue/orange)

Also, still taking feedback on the design done by The Bartender:

Madfish Stylings

There'll be one more style by Robert coming up and eventually we'll have a nicely skinnable site for your viewing pleasure.

Posted by: Jim at 02:40 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
Post contains 67 words, total size 1 kb.

1 I like the color scheme of the dreamy and the graphics of the Elegance.

Posted by: pylorns at December 22, 2003 03:44 PM (AhTDr)

2 Ooh! Ooh! The blue orange one. I loved it loved it loved it. Pick that one. Please?

Posted by: Helen at December 22, 2003 03:54 PM (FpuBY)

3 Or better yet, you can be totally non-committal about it and just offer them up as "skins" and enable your users to determine which skin they want to see your site in. (By saving the SkinID value in a cookie)

Posted by: Clancy at December 22, 2003 04:23 PM (EGVPL)

4 I'm going to side with Helen. I expected to like the black-and-white better--I just normally love black-and-white--but the blue and orange, I don't know, it's just more "you." Or "your site." Or . . . I don't know. Anyway, pick that one.

Posted by: ilyka at December 22, 2003 04:32 PM (eragK)

5 oh, the blue and orange - I love it!!!!

Posted by: Beth at December 22, 2003 05:34 PM (Lx88s)

6 Very nice indeed! I like Elegance myself, but I'd go for a sans-serif font. (I'm planning to change Ambient Irony when I get some time.)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at December 22, 2003 08:50 PM (kOqZ6)

7 I like the Elegance one the best, but the Dreamy is also spiffy. Try the styleswitcher here http://www.alistapart.com/articles/phpswitch/ easy to set up too.

Posted by: mog at December 23, 2003 03:03 PM (Dqis0)

8 not that you know me but i like the elegance one. a lot. but i agree that you should give people the choice with the style skinner thingamabob.

Posted by: jay at December 23, 2003 07:38 PM (vV+gc)

9 The blue and orange one is so inviting.

Posted by: LeeAnn at December 24, 2003 02:16 PM (HxCeX)

10 Very nice graphics on the Elegance site. I agree with Pixy regarding the sna serif font. I'll go look at the other one and leave a comment on that one in a sec.

Posted by: The Bartender at December 24, 2003 10:18 PM (pYkvz)

11 Nice graphics on this one too. I know everyone's a critic but here goes: the banner grahic should go across the width of the page, I still like to do the expanding/collapsing extended entry because I don't like being thrown to another page, I like the show comments script also for the same reason. Plus the comment windows always take too long to open and what if I just wanted to read and not comment? Of course those are not aethetic issues... more of a functionality issue. Nice job Mr Robert!!!

Posted by: The Bartender at December 24, 2003 10:25 PM (pYkvz)

12 Hey!!!! where's the beef? No cow pics on ether of those designs unless I'm completely blind. Actually, I'd like to make a couple of design changes on the page I did. I don't really like the three column layout much. Same basic things with some small tweeks in a ywo column layout. Let me know if you want to do that.

Posted by: The Bartender at December 24, 2003 10:28 PM (pYkvz)

13 I already know my bias...I really like the Elegance (BW) version. I was surprised to find I liked the blue/orange version a lot too though. Really, you wouldn't go wrong with any of 'em. And having the choice of all three as skins would be an embarassment of riches. Well done designers!

Posted by: Light & Dark at December 29, 2003 02:07 AM (Hrm9v)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Don't forget to send in your submissions for the Bestofme Symphony! Submissions received through midnight on Sunday (Eastern Standard Time) will be included in Monday's Symphony. Anything received after the cutoff will go into the following week's edition.

Symphony Archives

Submission Address

Submission Guidelines & Symphony Info

Webloggers: How about some link love?

All y'all: Remember that you don't have to be the author of a post in order to submit it.

Thanks for your support!

Posted by: Jim at 02:07 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 88 words, total size 1 kb.

As amazing as it may seem, searches on a certain nubile yet skanky, rich, braindead, amateur porn star have faded to the point where other search terms stay in my site logs. Yay! And that means I once again have the opportunity to assist people with the wierd ass things that they are looking for and not quite finding on my site.

sun bitches
I'll need more information for this one. The only thing I can determine for sure is that it involves the French in some fashion.

nemo burger
Sounds yummy, I know, but skinning a clown fish is annoyingly difficult. Try tuna or mahi-mahi.

"little people" dwarf etiquette
One hand on the shirt collar, one hand on the belt. And never toss them before they have secured their helmet.

the things I hate about men
What, am I psychic now? How am I supposed to know what you hate about men? I'll hazard a guess that number one is how we get together with our buddies and act "unilaterally", mademoiselle sun bitch.

Posted by: Jim at 11:42 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 186 words, total size 1 kb.