I joined MyBlogLog awhile back but haven’t really done much with it. But I read about the little battle between Steve Olsen and Wendy Piersall (of emomsathome.com) to raise money for kiva.org, so I joined Wendy’s group (her site has been a great resource for a little project I’ve been working on) and actually took a look at the stats MyBlogLog had compiled for my own blog. It’s pretty cool, I already see I’ve had readers I didn’t know about. It’s an easier interface than other stat services I’ve used, and I like the community aspect, too.

So, I plopped a little widget on my sidebar. I’d love to see faces of my regular readers in there, but most of you aren’t members! So, if you’re so inclined, join up and add a pic so I can see you when you stop by!

My old mouse was a pretty cool optical mouse, but the middle button stopped clicking (it would still scroll) for me awhile ago, and it was getting annoying. I asked for one for Christmas and Pat gave me the one I asked for, but it wasn’t quite what I needed, so he returned it. Today I got the one I ordered to replace it:

Pretty slick, huh? It has 5 buttons and over 35 options for what to do with them. I think I’ll play around with the spare buttons and try a few options before I settle down, but finally, I can middle click and open new tabs in Firefox (although I’ve already moved that function to one of the other buttons!)

Today is devoted to getting de-Christmassing started. It’ll take most of the weekend to take it all down and pack it all up. When I was pulling it out this season I realized that I always pack everything away so quickly and haphazardly, so this year I want to pack it all away more neatly, and maybe get rid of some older things I don’t use anymore. Or, at least store them away separately, so I don’t pull them out year after year just to pack them right back up again because they’re mixed with the things I do use.

Yesterday I de-Christmassed the blog, updating my theme a bit. You may notice the “caught my eye” box on the sidebar- thanks to a post by The Zero Boss I figured out how to share interesting things I find via Google Reader. I’m not sure whether using RSS feeds via Google Reader is saving me time or not, since I read more blogs and news sites than I used to, but for now let’s pretend it is saving me time. Anyway, now I can share the more interesting posts with whoever stumbles through here.

It’s just getting started so it’s a little tech and news heavy. That may or may not change, who knows?

something wrong with my comments, and my plugins are all going kerblooey on me. Time to upgrade, anyway, so if I disappear don’t be alarmed…

later… all is well, it was a corrupt table in my database, Googling the wordpress support area found the solution right away, as usual. But of course I had to try 5 other things first.

So, now at nearly 12:30pm, I can get on with my day. And my year.

Based on this review in Boing Boing, I’m seriously considering getting a Nintendo Wii for myself the kids. I was already considering, but now I’m seriously considering it. I love that you don’t have to push A B down up and all that- I haven’t played a game system since 1989 because I can’t figure out the stoopid controller. But the Wii, with it’s neat little remote control / laser pointer- like controller, looks like something I can handle. Besides, doesn’t every parent want to do this?

My daughter and I had created avatars that looked like us and we used these avatars to box with each other. We each held a controller in out fists and punched at the air, making our little avatars punch at the same time. When the bell rang, I started pummeling my daughter. Yes, it felt a little funny hitting a cute cartoon avatar of my daughter wearing glasses and pigtails, but after losing to her so many times in MonkeyBall, I wasn’t going to let the fact that I was her father get in the way of my chance to get revenge. I pounded away furiously, sending a jab to her head that knocked her to the ground. The referee started counting, but she was out cold. I finally won a game against her! The simplicity and intuitiveness of the controller had leveled the playing field between my daughter and me. Her days of treating me like one of those TV commercial idiot dads were over.

Watch out, boys…

I updated to WP2.03, and changed my smilie plug-in, so some smilies are broken. I fixed most

Comments form was buggy- if you’re so inclined can you drop me a comment so I can see if it works? If not can you email me at annie@whatstruckme.com? Thanks !

WordPress updated, new skin loaded. Back to :surf:.