It's In The Stars

To be honest, I've never seen the fascination with stars...  The reading of, the studying of, the watching, the celebrity-variety.  And if I am REALLY honest, I don't get why stars are given as awards.  WHY is something good worth five stars?

"Well done, that's such a good bit of work, I will award it five balls of burning gasses from the depths of space"

Doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?

It can't be all about the shape, as there are lots of pokey shapes to be had - WHY does it have to be the five-pointed variety?  Why not six?  Or twelve.  Not two though - two would just be... erm.. a stick.

However, being that I am still playing around with Blogger In Draft - which I suppose is Bloggers new Beta.  Have to play with the betas.  It makes me cool.  Anyway, you will now see - hopefully - at the bottom of each post is a little star-rating thingiemajigg for you to "rate" the post it's attached to.

I know a lot of people read my posts, but a lot of you are cowards that don't like to comment.  Some of you go as far as using the Tagboard off to the side there, but there could be MORE interation.  So, if you don't want to comment, if you don't want to use the Tagboard, then click the stars.

Except you dirty RSS Readers ;)  You can come over here and load the page in order to use it.

Now, I am hoping that over time, Blogger will add a widget to show the "Highest Rated" posts and suchlike in a sidebox... I would assume that would be the next logical step, but still.

Feel free to be harsh - like you are anyway - and if you think a post sucks the floppy one, rate it.  I'll ignore the rubbish ratings anyway ;)  My Blog, after all.

If you're using Blogger In Draft, then there's a post on their official blog about Star Ratings.  However, because some people are idiots that mess around with their templates all the time, it doesn't always work properly, in which case, I found a very handy guide to getting it to work on another blog called At The Edge.  So thank you to the author there :)

Logo A-Go-Go

As is probably apparent to everyone visiting here - not your dirty RSS-Readers tho - but I have a logo.  An new logo.  A proper logo for my blog finally!

As the little post icon here probably suggests, it was made by a rather strange girl that lives in some coal-mining village up norf somewhere.  She stay home on the computer all day because she suffers, like the rest of her community, with Black Lung and other mining-related ailments.

And, out of the kindness of her heart, she made me a logo!  Huzzah!

She's one of the girls that was at my weekend at the Posh Palace back in May, that spent the best part of the evening completely bemused and amused by plastic beer cups.  Clearly, the technology known as "Plastic" has yet to make it's way to the norf.  She's a blogger, but obviously using a stolen laptop with a mobile broadband connection...  You can visit her (new) blog through this link.

Little does she know, I think I will start collecting logos for my blog and have them alternate around and change for a bit of variety :)  900x204 are the banner dimensions, FYI ;)

If you want to make a logo - and I mean a semi-decent one, not someone having a laugh in Paint and scrawling "0ddness" then chuck it on over and I will A) use it, B) link to you, and C) take the piss out of you!

So, to Miss Lynzi, thank you :D  I'd buy you a pint o' bitter, but your whippet will prolly have me.

Under Construction (Again)

I'm Re-Re-Re-doing the blog template.  If it goes PLOOEY, blame a woman.

Edit: You know, I think I did it without breaking anything... 

*kills*

What the buggery is going on with my layout?!

The Never-Ending Template

As you may have guessed - by the fact there is slightly less chaos here - I have once again finished completely fucking my template fiddling with my layout.

As is usual for me, I'm still not completely sure if I like this or not, so I am going to leave it, see if it grows on me, or if it grows on me like a dirty dirty fungus.

A couple of hours back when it really hit the fan - and my backup copy of the previous version didn't work - I was ready to start head-butting the keyboard. I was sooo pissed, it wasn't even funny.

That's pissed angry, not pissed *hic*

Lucky for me, it was at that moment that Kellie decided to send me an email, and all was right again in the world. I sucked it up (the Graaaah'ness, not the email) and started again. Well, again-again-again. And finally, I win.

You maybe have noticed earlier there were ads on here. Rest assured, I have NOT sold out, and never will. The ads were part of a template I was trying to use, and were hastily deleted as soon as the template went up. If you saw a tower ad, a square, a banner or anything else, I am sorry - it wasn't me :)

So now, considering I wanted an early night, I am going to sort my crap out and hit the sack.

As usual, if you find anything wrong with the new template, let me know. If you have anything you'd like to say - and be harsh if you wanna - then go for it.

Under Construction

Bear with me: I've found a template I like!

Edit: Ooooops, I farked it... REDO! Edit/Edit: OK, as you can tell, I've completely bum-sexed the template. And I backed up from my complete template backup. And it's even more broken than it was.So excuse the mess. I'm going to go boil my head.

Template Woes

Slowly, slowly but surely, I am trying to get a decent template on here. Well, I say "surely" but what I mean is, "I find something rather nice, then either have to tweak it, alter it or just outright bin it"

Today is no different. I have been sat here for a couple of hours today trying to get a template to look just so but do you think I can get there? Can I f'k.

My first issue is that I fell asleep not long after I started on it. However, unlike those that feel tired and have a little lay down, I was forcing myself onwards.. And woke up an hour later in my computer chair, face down on my desk. I completely forgot what I had been doing, so I deleted and started over. Now for the last hour and a half, I've been altering and fiddling and what-have-you, trying to get a (Spanish!) template to look right.

However, I've learned from a million a couple of times when I broke 0ddness to do it elsewhere - so have been using my random blog for just such purposes.

My biggest issue, is I couldn't say exactly WHAT I want. Three columns. Clear, Clean, Professional... Dark-ish but not dreary colours. Then there is the OCD-Anally Retentive part of me that has to have things just so. Trying to balance two side columns to look neat. Everything in line. Colours that match - or near as dammit.

And for the love of all things banner-like, can I PLEASE find a template that isn't steered towards AdSense, Banner Ads, Tower ads and all the rest of that shit. And please please, a header image that I can change...

Currently, I have the following layed out on my stomping ground blog: Clicky to Lookie. There is so much WRONG with it, but the basics are quite nice. Maybe a bit cluttered - which I need to figure a way to cut down. The header image is actually two different, different-sized images which is a f'ker. And mostly, more importantly, I want it to load fairly quickly - not struggle through reams of code, background images, sidebar images and everything else... Some blogs I visit have a massive load-time thanks to the template itself, not the stuff on there. Content loading, no a problem, but if the template is slow then I get bored.

I don't know - I doubt I will use it in the long run as I don't look at it and think "Wow, that's nice" I look at it and think "Maybe it'll do for now". The current theme on 0ddness is probably my longest-serving theme since switching to the new version of Blogger, and it's not what I would call a nice template, more a "it'll do" template.

I've sifted through a load of different template sites on Google - the various search strings of "Blogger Templates" "Blogger XML Template" and so on and so on... Somewhere out there, there MUST be something that will satisfy my whiny-crotchety-anally-retentive self... There MUST be...

If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know - but if it's plastered with ads, either random ones or a banner for the author, no thanks ;)

*resumes thumping head on table*

And you know what - I dislike that template on my spare blog more and more, the more I look at it.

The Sofa

It's nearly midnight here in Chez 0ddness, and yet, here I am, pissing around on my blog. The reason is simple - I am on the sofa tonight.

Thankfully, I hasten to add, it's not one of those "YOU can sleep on the sofa tonight" instances, but me, being the perfect gent that I am, have given up my bed for our friend Lane.

Yes, there are two women in my bed tonight... But I am still the gentleman here ;)

Lane is having what you might want to term "A Bloody Awful Time", and has spent the day here alternating between crying, laughing, chasing the kids, and chilling out. She even got to see Migraine Dan pass out on the sofa and bury himself under a stack of sleeping bags. She's been through a lot in the last few months, and it's all coming out on our shoulders.

She's also the person that "helped" me get our replacement washing machine in. She's even started to blog a bit, I've added her to the blogroll. Her blog is Phoenix Is... so poodle on over and say howdy.

In other news, well, we've got a replacement washing machine after our other one was repossessed. We got a letter today telling us it was going to be taken. Great, well done - would have been handy a week ago.

My arm is sore and bruised from the Needle of Doom.

I've had a bitch of a headache for the last couple of days.

Hellgate London is an excellent computer game. I've been waiting two or three years for this game, and it was worth the wait. Swords, guns, demons, undead - great stuff.

Firefly still kicks ass. Anyone that didn't enjoy what there was made of that show should be pushed out of their country and sent to somewhere strange. Like Australia.

Anyways, I am sooo glad tomorrow is Friday. No doubt it will be spent doing the worlds supply of washing up and clearing up generic chaos. I might even post the rest of my Whinefest ;)

So, with a Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers (who are no doubt doing family stuff and far too busy to read blogs, I'm going to try and fall asleep.

Edit: Oh, the template. So, it turns out that the problem is to do with new code being viewed on out of date software. You need to upgrade to IE7 or Firefox in order for the poor little sidebar to appear in the right place. I tested it on an old computer a couple of days back and see the problem, upgraded to Firefox and it was fine. Otherwise, just grin, bear it, and wait for the next template rehash ;)

Da Flu

Don't you hate it when sneezes become a cold, a cold becomes the flu, the Flu becomes ManFlu, and then - THEN - it has the audacity to develop into the dark pits of Migraineville. I've felt rough as crap all week, and Thursday I woke up with "that smell" that usually says Mr Migraine is coming for a visit. I spent Thursday and Friday pretty much out cold in bed, not getting up till the crack of 3pm.

On top of this, Jaysen has had a stinking cold, and Jo has been complaining about her foot or something. I think she's still trying to milk that particular sympathy cow, but alas, Mr Dan has been too ill to notice. Lucky for us, one of our friends have been waiting on us hand and foot (heh) so it's not been too hellish. And think of me what you will, but Cel is (to use the P.C term) "a member of an ethnic group", or (to not be P.C), she's black. And I give her such a hard time. So to have Cel cooking dinner or cleaning up, I get to make comments about her needing her chains, or to shine my shoes. She knows it's all in good fun, and she'll play along too. Especially in public which cracks me up. At one birthday party or another, my family was over, and I introduced her as my personal housekeeper.

Yeah, I'm a bastard.

Anyway. Mr Tim, I've tested the template in IE and FF, and it seems to work fine and dandy, and you are the only person with an issue (I think)... Perhaps come to the new age and use IE7? And the link bar across the top is indeed part of the template. I think the site I use (which is in another language!) convert WordPress templates to Blogger.

So, with my germs on the way out finally - we're back down to Defcon Stinking Cold - I'm hoping things are going to get back to normal. Ish. Whatever normal is in this house.

Oh, and in my search for a post image, I tried "ManFlu Virus" as a search string in Google Images. Amazingly, it provided one porn site, and, well, take a look - third row, third image...


Clicken to Embiggen, but there we have it, an image of the ManFlu virus. And for those that don't know what I'm talking about, click here.

Oh, edit because I forgot - congrats to those of you that twigged the header image on the blog is "Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll". Took me minutes to make it ;)

Repaired (For Now)

So, after several hours of pissing around with templates again, I think I've settled on one that A) Works, and B) I Like. I am still never completely satisfied with the various templates I end up with, but for the time being, I'm done.

Speaking of repairs, Jo is having a "bit of a mare" with her mobile phone. It suffered some moisture damage at the hands of Tamsyn - that is, she plopped it in the dogs water bowl to clean it. We took it to the store and said "help!" and they sent it off, but her insurance doesn't actually cover accidental toddler damage. Luckily, the only part of the phone that was affected was the memory card reader - which means not a lot really, she just couldn't use a memory card.

The chap at the shop said should either take it as is, and have it as a phone (because all the other functions worked), or we could fork out three-digits to get her a new phone. Well, being the kind soul I am, I said to her "Don't worry dear, we'll just swap phones, I don't need the memory card bit.

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon backing up both phones, saving contacts, shifting files here and there, got the phones switched (we've still got the same numbers, so don't worry), and headed out on the school run. One of our friends was late, so we stole her kids and I called her on my phone which was Jo's damaged one.

And the fricking microphone has stopped working. Whoever opened it at Vodafone has broken another part of the phone, rendering it now virtually useless. Their answer? "Bring it to the shop and we'll send it off for repair".

So, that should be interesting to see if they try saying "no, water damage stopped it working" when it was working fine before hand...

Pah, Dammit and Arse

Yes, there is something wrong with my template. I wrote that last post (in the loo, no less!), have just checked the page on my laptop as we have people over, and see error messages, image problems and everything else. Which means - dammit - another page redesign.

*huff*

Edit: OK, it looks like it might have been a glitch somewhere that wasn't me or my fault, so *touch wood* I don't need to mess with anything. If you get error messages, parts of the blog missing or what-have-you, please let me know.

Take Two. Or Three.. Four?

Being that I am Oh So Bored at the moment - Jo is away enjoying her mums soup along with Tam, and Jaysen is engrossed in WoW - I have decided that I will sort my template, and will have it fixed today.

I hope, at any rate...

So be prepared for mucho-screwiness. As normal.


edit - yes, i am having a nightmare, getting stress out and pissed off with templates. gah.

Edit- 10pm, and I DO BELIEVE I've beaten the bastard. There is still a wobbly thingie that is irritating me in regard to blockquoting, but that's about all. It seems to work on both Firefox and Internet Explorer - if you find any bugs, let me know.

I dare you.

Post 900

Post 900 eh...

Must be time for a new skin/layout... *cough*

Edit: Oops, I broke something... starting over!

Edit Again: Clearly I am having a nightmare day today...

Edit Again-Again: OK, I've finally managed to get somewhere without breaking it. Go Me. However, flicking between Firefox and Internet Explorer, it would appear IE is having what you might term as "issues" with the code. Which is very odd, but still. Of course, I don't know how long this template will last, so be prepared for it to change, just in case!

Edit: Gah, I am having a mare. I know roughly what I am looking for, but am struggling to find That Perfect Template for me. You'll just have to bare with the constant altering.

Edit: Nads to it, I quit.

Try This

OK, I've had this template knocking around for a while now, and I love it. Big fat guy sitting on a moon with what I take to be a little girl... I'm sure you can work out the rest :)

Now, hopefully by changing the template again that will have solved the issues IE6 users were having. See, I COULD have said "Just update your Internet Explorer to version 7" but being a nice chap, I decided to just get on with it. Yes, I've been re-re-coding HTML this morning on no sleep, so there MAY be problems - let me know if you spot any.

I have a teeny-inkling what might have caused the previous issue, but it occurred to me just after I finished editing. Figures.

Report site problems in comments please :)

Still Tuesday?

So, nearly 10am, and I've seen every minute of Tuesday so far. And I don't mean I've been in a corner dozing off - I actually took Jaysen to school, I've had breakfast, and I am functioning. Well, sort of - my eyes are sore and I am wearing sunglasses, but I am still awake, and not going to sleep again till bedtime - which is twelve hours or more away. Yikes.

I almost considered going back to bed, or at least, the sofa, but decided in the long run it was too bright, and I'd probably feel worse for having just a couple of hours of sleep. I managed to be both coherent AND safe while walking to school, remember everything and didn't get run over or anything. I did, however, hurl abuse at the Lollipop Lady as we crossed with her as usual, reminded her Xmas is half a year away, and that her hair was frizzy.

I like to make peoples day a little more surreal.

Anyway, I was dressed and had eaten breakfast before 5am, which is around the time I resigned myself to being up and awake. Now to just stay awake for the rest of the day...

*thud*ZZZzzzZZZzzz

Edit: For those of you having problems with the posts appearing half-way down the page, I am suspecting it is an Internet Explorer 6 hiccup somewhere, and am looking into it. Granted, there are only three of you affected, but you know what I'm like!. Anyway, it's a fix-in-progress. With no sleep. This could be interesting...

Wonky!

Now in a million years, no one else would likely notice this, and I am not even sure how I noticed, but I've tested it on both Firefox and Internet Explorer, but there it is. If you scroll from the top of the blog, right down to the bottom fairly quickly, you will notice the bottom is a lot thinner than the top. It gradually tapers downwards.

Now, it's not too bad really, but I will no doubt spend hours trying to work out what is wrong, and whether or not it's something I've done. Which is highly likely. But don't worry, I won't mess with it on here :)

Edit: OK, so I sort of figured it out, and it's all realigned now, but each post has a gap between it. NO clue why. Taking out the cause makes the blog get thinner the further south you go, putting it in puts a gap between posts. Meh.

All Aboard!

I admit it, I am weak. I am shallow, and I am weak. However, as you regulars are no doubt aware, I am always tinkering around with something on here, messing with templates and formats and everything out there is to mess about with. I plunged into Blogger Beta with open arms, and with my winning personality, charm, and lightning wit (plus the bribery, blackmail and slander) I convinced several others to go Beta.

So Ya me. *cough*

You may notice, however, that I have changed my template. Again. And added a funky sig to each post. Go me. You may also notice, however, that new template is not so beta-ish. But I really liked it. Really really.

So yes, I am a weak fool, not only because a few people have been changing their templates - Alan in Ireland, Terri,(with her new blog "Steel Magnolia"I should add, which is now on my sidebar) and Jo, to name a few - but because I've yet to find the perfect template for me.

You can sue later.

On the other hand, it's not that different - the biggest issue being I can't list my Tags to the side (though I do have a hard-code-hack to do so), and don't get to mess with swanky Layout thingies, just back to hard coding. I'll survive...

Maybe ;)

I Do Still Live

So I am now offically on the mend. I can smell stuff, my headache isn't quite as vile as it was, and the coughing isn't constant. Yes, I am getting better but am still feeling rough. This, of course, is good news, at least, it should be.

Jo is now coming down with it. Fingers crossed the usual case of ManFlu vs. GirlieSniffles holds out, as she's had a good afternoon with a friend over which has kept her mind occupied more than anything.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in Gotham... Jaysen and Tam are holding off on the germs so fingers crossed it avoids them. My body clock is now offically screwed, and I find myself crawling out of the bed after 9am, and laying in bed wide awake till 4am.

Ho Hum.

In other news, we finally managed to get and install the World of Warcraft expansion, Burning Crusade. Wow, very pretty... The new areas are amazing, and nice to run around and explore. The new critters roaming the lands are incredible - from the smallest little critter, up to the massive great Pit Lord that you are confronted with when you first step out of the portal...

So yes, great stuff.

So, aside from Dan being missing, and will probably be remaining as such for a few more days, all is semi-well in Chez Anglais... Or whatever.

PS, I am looking into changing the Cbox as it's still them causing all your popups. Sorry :)

Reading 0ddness Elsewhere

For those of you that read 0ddness through something other than the main Blogger page, there has been a slight twist in your subscription - which probably means you have to resubscribe. Previously, they were being fed via Atom, but now Blogger has introduced proper RSS, I've changed the feed to the friendlier format - just click the "Subscribe to 0ddness" and it should add it to a reader for you.

If you have MyYahoo as a main information page, you can also add this blog to your front page now, using the buttom at the bottom right that says "+ MyYahoo"

I know before the feed changed over, I only had a few people subscribe to it from elsewhere - ten or so - but for those ten, this might make things both easier, and update on a more regular basis - instead of getting that 2-5 hour delay from when I post to when it picks up the new entry!

Another Minor Change

Once again, I've been messing with code from "Behind the Scenes" as it were. You, the reader, won't notice anything until I slap out a big post (or maybe decide to go back over the front page and edit these posts), but in order to keep the blog a wee bit more tidy, I've added some code to make "Peek-A-Boo Posts".

Now, assuming it works, the longer posts I make will have a "Read More" link in them which will expand the entire post, so the long ones - ie, the spammer - will look two/three paragraphs, but actually be ten or twenty :)

If it causes problems or is a general P.i.t.A I'll revert it back. I don't see it causing any hassle, and should, in the long run, make the blog look neat, tidy and well laid out for a change.

In regards to WordPress, don't fret. If I do decide to get my own domain and webspace, I'll probably end up sticking with Blogger as the knobs and whistles at WP are all new to me - at least with Blogger I can sit down and post without any nasty surprises or changes! I couldn't figure out (in the five minutes I looked) how to put a post-image on there! hehe