The (Blogger) World Is Not Enough

No expectations. No limits.

Everything (and everyone for that matter) has the potential to become anything. Having seen this proved to me over and over again, I'll even be so bold as to say I'm starting to expect the unexpected. Doesn't the irony of life just slay you sometimes?

It certainly did just that to me.

I'll be honest here, I originally started blogging simply to vent personal woes. And in many ways that hasn’t changed at all. Yet, the whole feel and direction of "The Laidback Buddhist: Makes Her Way Step By Step" has flipped 360° from it's former and admittedly very emo-like title of "Play The Fool: Every Blue Moon."

…I’d like to think that it somehow reflects new direction for me.

Of change that’s taking me beyond anything I ever imagined. I believe that to truly have no expectations, no pre-judgments should be present either. It's all about approaching every opportunity with an open mind.

A professor of mine once said, “We explore when there are no answers.”

I immediately fell in love with her for that one sentence alone (well, besides the fact that she had an excellent taste in clothes). We explore because one answer just doesn’t cut it sometimes. She touched upon why it’s such an exhilarating feeling to learn how to do something new...and to do it well. It’s addictive. How can boredom exist when there’s always something waiting on the horizon to be discovered?

Life knows no bounds.

I always knew that. What I didn’t know was that blogging knows no bounds as well.

EXHIBIT A: MyBlogLog

Ah, that which I dub the MySpace for Bloggers.

(Miki)

I holler over to the next room, “I see you, Miki! You’re not doing work!”

“Wait, how do you see me?”

“My widget just showed that Mikkers visited." I laugh slyly, "You’re on MyBlogLog which means you're not doing work!”

...you understand, of course, that the very fact I knew this meant I wasn’t doing my work either.

(Dan)

You're E V E R Y W H E R E! I find "new" blogs here, and who's already a member? You! I read different blogs I find, and who's in the comments? You again! I guess you do have an addiction, don't you?

EXHIBIT B: Blog Catalog

I finally started showing Blog Catalog a lil' love last week, and it reciprocated tenfold. Partly because there's no limit on the number of friends and communities you can add per day (MyBlogLog maxes out at 15 per day)...so yours truly promptly became akin to something like a crazed social butterfly who just discovered how to use her wings.

Top 5 Favorite Features:

1. Meeting really awesome blogger-friends
2. Categorization and subcategorization of blogs
3. Shout-to-shout feature for the message box
4. Management of which notifications get sent to your email
5. Peer-review/ranking of blogs

EXHIBIT C: Technorati

My ever-diligent dueling partner Dan ought to get an extra point for calling this one.

In this post just six days ago, he noted that I had a Technorati rating of 11 and half-jokingly wrote that he'd try to increase the rating to 15 by the weekend (to garner an extra point in our unofficial duel). Well, the weekend came and went, and I woke up Monday morning to see that that my Technorati authority had jumped to 24 and had 61 blog reactions*!!

Now, do I get a point for exceeding expectations? I mean, this counts as evidence for the theory that sparring improves one's blog, yes?

EXHIBIT D: Importing to Wordpress

Don’t get me wrong. I think Blogger is awesome, and especially user-friendly for beginners experimenting with customization.

But it’s not enough anymore!

Who would've thought this would happen? Certainly not me.

I keep thinking I must have a malfunctioning version of feedburner or something. As my feed count climbs faster than a monkey these days.

And to think I was a tad skeptical when Dan warned me that my blog was growing fast.

So now, I'm in the midst of contemplating a big move over to a self-hosted wordpress account. Today, I imported the bulk of my Blogger posts/comments over to Wordpress and decided that I really like Bluehost for web-hosting (but am open to other suggestions?).

No expectations, no limits.

Right, except I've been educated in the 7 Ways Blogging Is Like Marriage and I think I may be afflicted with a case of pre-wedding jitters...

7 Reasons for Getting My Own Domain:

1. I like the freedom you get from using a self-hosted Wordpress blog
2. ...Wordpress is so very pretty
3. If I continue to blog (which I certainly plan on doing)
4. It's better to make a move now than later for the sake of my BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog communities, Technorati ranking, readers and feed subscribers, and future traffic/linkage.
5. I am a strong believer in the power of BAA!
6. I'm building a community
7. Because Dan will probably give me another one...

Final Verdict?

Blogging has exploded into my life.

It looks like it’s here to stay.

And, I totally owned Dan in link love with this single post. Yarr, score for the Pirate King's daughter!
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*EDIT: Apparently, by the time I finished writing/proof-reading this post and was just about to publish it...my Technorati authority suddenly became 25, with 63 blog reactions. I can't freakin' keep up! Love it.

A Widgetal Affair

I must confess, I have a thing for widgets.

It's a lot like love, but I'll be real here. It's a helluva lot more like obsession.

See, I've been tweaking my blog layout since...well, since I started it. This is why I claim it's a lot like love. In turning all things I love doing into a continuously active process, I'm celebrating my passion for it. And, I'm rewarded (and fueled) by ever new discoveries. Granted, there are those days when I desire to ruthlessly murder certain widgets.

Fortunately, those days are far and few in between. *knock on wood* However, as can be imagined this "celebrating" led to quite an accumulation of widgets all over the freakin' place!!! Header, footer, left and right sidebars, in posts--if I liked it, you better believe I'd fit it...somewhere. Except I never stray far from my Buddhist roots, as laidback as they may be. So, I realized I had to start trimming my blog's unnecessary fat. Er, at the very least, relocating the fat.

For a useful guideline, I recommend checking out 50 tips compiled by Skellie.

Anyways, there I was merrily trimming away extra fat. Every single day this week I was making progress. At the risk of sounding like a weight-loss testimonial, it felt grrrrreat!

Then along came Uniqlock. Correction: along remained Uniqlock.

Now, I can't explain why in the world I should keep that widget at the top of my left sidebar. All I know is that I absolutely adore it!

Adore. It.

I must thank my new friend Jon, who's probably thinking, "What?! I don't even have Uniqlock!"

True, but Jon did a spotlight post on SnapClap that cracked me up so much I followed the link he provided. There on SnapClap's side bar, I became mesmerized by the choreographed dancers. Again, I can't explain why I am so fascinated.

I could only think of 3 reasons that might possibly explain my awe:

1. Watching them, I almost...almost...felt compelled to try ballet (keep in mind yours truly is a ballet teacher's worst nightmare come true).
2. They all look the same!!!
3. Each girl has the kind of Asian hair I don't.

But aside from all that it's basically just a clock!

I don't NEED a clock widget cluttering up my left sidebar. Time is irrelevant on the internet where people come from all over the world. It'd be an utter waste of space on my blog.

Well...

Except for Uniqlock, of course. Remember, just don't ask me why.

By the way, is "widgetal" even a word? Or should I just play it off as new Jo Jargon. ;)

Why Site Meter Is Bad for My Health

Writer's block never hits out of the blue.

You're welcome to disagree. But for me, I write about whatever I'm currently thinking and feeling.

Therefore, it means there's only two reasons I suffer writer's block:

1. I have too much to say and ambitiously want to say ALL of it at once
2. I attempt to write about something when my mind's full of another thing

Today is witness to a collaboration of both writer's blocks.

However, I figured it didn't matter--I mean, there's always something to say about...something. So, I started a post and exhausted my energies on the subject because I took so long in choosing a suitable title. No matter, I simply opened up a new post. But then, I couldn't decide on how to introduce it. Ever the trooper, I tried yet another topic...though it soon became quite clear that even a coherent fragment seemed beyoned my abilities. By this point, you can imagine how worried I was getting. Taking a break, I remembered I hadn't drank my green tea yet. So, caffeine brings a fleeting surge of inspiration, but unfortunately doesn't last far down enough to get a scrolling bar created.

And now? Now I have 5 consecutive saved drafts on Blogger.

Although draft is an overstatement of actual length. This is not writer's block and more like writer's strike...it's like some voice keeps saying, "I know what you're really thinking about."

So what is yours truly really thinking about?

Well, actually I keep cursing site meter. As I get a minor heart-attack every time someone from Germany stumbles across this page. Which happened twice the other day. I know, I know! After recovering, I realized that I needn't panic unless it's from Stockholm. Because the someone I've thought about so much in the past (and thus blogged often about) is still in Sweden and should not be in Germany yet.

Ahh, what a relief. Silly girl, you worry too much!

And then today, some innocent web-surfer comes along from...

Yep, you got it. Stockholm, Sweden.

Damn you site meter! A gal's heart can only take so much at a time.

To Haloscan or Not?

Abulia has taken me over. I know, again.

Really, it was only a matter of time before I reverted back to my natural state of impulsive indecision. Currently, I can't seem to decide for the life of me whether I should add Haloscan to my blog or not.

Here are points of interest: (1) the picture in my header disappears when I upload the template with Haloscan, (2) I had read in the forum that if you don't post (or have comments) after awhile Haloscan stops working and deletes old comments (this has neither been confirmed nor refuted, but still...), and (3) I really, really dislike having ads.

Now, I don't mind paying the $12 bucks to import old comments (because it's a huge annoyance to have the Blogger comments and the Haloscan comments on completely separate platforms) and to get rid of the ads....but there seems to be so many kinks Haloscan needs to work out that I'm hesitant to make the final switch. I mean, WHY WOULD I INVEST MY MONEY IN SOMETHING THAT'S LIKELY TO EXPLODE IN MY FACE?

Plus, if one day I decided to no longer use Haloscan, I'd LOSE all the comments I had during that time! And, I'm wary of ultimatums like that.

I want flexibility. I'd like to have the option of having options when I'm not 99.98% sure I'm willing to take that chance.

Since yours truly can't control her heart, control over any and everything else is...appealing, to say the least.

All in all, compared to the blissful satisfaction with my Feedburner experience (which just gets better and better now that it's been acquisitioned by Google), Haloscan has been quite the disappointment.

Alas, I must say no to Haloscan with a twinge of regret in my heart (comment-box layouts are SO very pretty and the dashboard options are useful)...

Maybe Google'll think about buying Haloscan...ya think?

*hopeful eyes*

Blogs Don't Lie

Once again, I’ve made some more minor tweaks (notice the various quotes littered thru-out the sidebars?). And some major tweaks to the site. Most notably, scrolling link at the top displaying a number of my recent posts and…*drum rolls*…the tag cloud!!!!!

Tag Cloud, n.

1. one of the sweetest, neat-o widgets created. ever.
2. a personal favorite and new love of yours truly
3. organization of labels (tags) in alphabetical order with the more popular tags in larger font, respectively.

Isn’t it beautiful? *sighs in pure bliss* Much thanks to Frivolous Motion for freely providing such awesome code.

For someone who has near zip experience with HTML coding, it took some time and a bit of research, but mostly trial and error and a ton of both analytical/logical thinking to see how things might connect correctly. Let me say this, it totally ROCKS that these other coding geniuses create such cool widgets and stuff for Blogger and spread the joy with free code. All I usually need to do is make minor adjustments to suit my layout. Sometimes, it takes awhile, but the result is so worth it.

And, the Nerd Egotist in me feels so damn proud of herself.

Now of course, I’ve been doing some admiring of my new tag cloud, so I’d be a big, fat liar if I were to say I failed to notice how absurdly ginormous the tag, “Formerly 365" is.

Which means I post about him the most frequently. Which also means he’s in my thoughts far too much. Which is unnerving.

Sheesh, I ought to dub it the Tag Cloud of Truth.