Things I discovered last week

~random ramblings from last week~

I'm late
Yep. I didn't get this written or posted last week. I meant to do it on Friday. Oh well. Since there wasn't anything very profound, I'll keep it short. :)

The Lawn
Yes. The snow has melted and I saw the lawn for the first time since January. It's brown and dormant. (See, lacking in profoundness.)

Center clicking my mouse
On the EntreCard forums, someone posted that center clicking the mouse (the scroll wheel) in Firefox will cause a link to open in a new tab. Also, center clicking a tab in Firefox will cause it to close. I love handy-dandy time-saving tips like that.

BlogLog
I joined BlogLog this week and was surprised to see that it's affiliated with Yahoo! The concept of BlogLog is very similar to BlogCatalog. I've barely explored the advantages of either site yet for promoting this blog and discovering other new ones, but I'm registered and that's a start.

Three-column layout
I was on Hunting the Muse one night and noticed that Brady Frost had switched to a three-column layout and uses Blogger/Blogspot as a host. I've been wanting to try that for a while, but couldn't find any easy-to-use templates. When I found the link on his page, I followed it to discover my exact Blogger/Blogspot layout (minima) available in three columns! Yeah! That, of course, led to a lot of playing and tweaking and redesigning of this site. I'm not sure I love what I've done so far, but it's a start. I'm really frustrated that I can't figure out how to hack a white background behind the main column of content. I'm open to ideas and suggestions.

Things I've discovered this week

All 5th- and 6th-grade girls have long hair
It's not a scientific sampling, mind you. But, when I went to my nephew's school production the other night, I noticed this trend. Of at least 150 students in 5th and 6th grades, half being girls, I only noticed *one* girl with short hair. One.

Footloose represents the entire decade of '80s music
Yellow Submarine represents the '60s, the Hustle and Y-M-C-A represent the '70s, and Achy Breaky Heart sums up the entire '90s. At least they did at my nephew's school production of "On the Radio", about music through the 20th century. Granted, it's an elementary school production, and these songs have a distinct visual element that's fun for families, but it still disturbs me. Did I mention how much I enjoyed my nephew's performance?

Playing is more fun than working
Duh. Everyone knows that. But I mean it more in the sense that sometimes I'd rather spend hours manipulating my photos than connecting three sentences together in an effort to write. How's my novel coming? Don't ask. But look what I made.

I can't sleep late any more
I was thrilled to have Monday off for President's Day. I didn't have to get up for work, and I didn't have to get up to go to my workout class. A true day off. Except, I woke up at the same time and couldn't get back to sleep. Bah.

BlogCatalog
I signed up with BlogCatalog. It's kind of social networking for bloggers, and a good place to browse blogs. Haven't played around with all that much yet.

BlogRush
I also signed up with BlogRush, which is a syndication service for bloggers. There's a widget in my right column that shows headlines from five other blogs. Somewhere out in the blogosphere, a headline of mine appears on someone's widget. Hopefully, someone or two will click through and find this post.

Mosquito Ringtone
I'm not buying this ringtone. It's just that I've been reading about the mosquito on news articles online, and was intrigued to actually get to hear it. The mosquito is a high-frequency noise that most adults can't hear because we lose that frequency as we age. It was developed as a tool to deter teens from loitering outside businesses. So, on the ringtone site above, they have samples of the mosquito played at different frequencies. I can still hear the mosquito at the 40 and younger frequency, which is good, because I'm still under 40.