Thursday, December 14, 2006

Good Morning Outer Blogness!!!

I've had a very productive hiatus!!!

I got maybe about half as much done as I'd been hoping in my wildest fantasies to get done, however my wildest fantasies were pretty ambitious, and I'm happy I got as much done as I did. And I'm not going to extend my hiatus because not blogging just makes me ornery.

In other good news, I've gotten myself into a good habit of reading my kids bedtime stories, which I hadn't really been doing before. I don't know if I sound like a good or a bad feminist saying "well I didn't finish all of my professional projects, but at least I spent more time with my kids..." The thing is, though, that when I get excited about a project I'm working on, I tend to focus on it obsessively -- to the exclusion of all else -- and I have to learn not to keep putting every other aspect of my life on hold until all of my projects are done. Because by the time I feel like I've finished all my projects and I'm ready to say "Okay, I can relax now," it'll be ten years later, and I'll look around and say "Now where are those kids I had? Oh, look, they're teenagers now! And surly ones at that. Hmmm, maybe I should have read them stories or something when they were little..."

Speaking of kids' stuff, on Monday we'll be going to their school to present some songs and stories in English. This is part of a really cool program their school does every year where they have all of the parents whose native language isn't French come in and share something with the kids in their native language. In addition to English, the kids have heard from parents speaking German, Spanish, Arabic, and I think some other European and African languages are scheduled. I like this program not only because I get to participate ;^) but also because the school has a lot of ethnic and racial diversity, and it's a way of giving the kids the idea that their differences are something to be proud of (since kids usually all want to fit in and be like everyone else). If anything interesting happens I'll blog about it, but I don't think I'll post pictures of the event since I'm pretty sure that posting kids' pictures to the Internet without their parents' consent is a no-no.

Now I have three blogging related items to share with you on this joyous occasion of my break-hiatus:
1. In Mormon-lit-blogging news: Carol Lynn Pearson has just started a blog called No More Goodbyes. If you haven't already visited, please have a look and welcome her to blogspace.
2. To start things off with a bang of controversy, my brother has posted a 7-point strategy for U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, particularly Iraq. He has a lot of intriguing ideas, and -- unlike a lot of people -- he actually has a complete and coherent plan for how to deal with this serious and nearly intractable catastrophe. However if you hate his suggestions and think he's a bad American for saying so many bad things about the president, remember to post your angry comments over on his blog and not here. ;^)
3. Blogger is pressuring me to switch to blogger beta (by screwing up my ability to post comments on beta blogs). However, I hesitate to take the plunge because I'm scared something bad will happen -- such as the urls for my individual posts changing, breaking all of the links leading to individual posts here. Have others made the switch? Is it painless, or am I right to be afraid?

28 comments:

Rebecca said...

I have the same fears about blogger beta! And the pressure! Oh! The pressure! I am also afraid that I won't be able to post comments on regular blogger blogs, as some people who switched were complaining about a while ago.

Welcome back! I missed you! It's possible I should have written that FIRST. I was crazy excited, and also thought I might have had a brain aneurysm, when I saw your blog listed as updated in my subscriptions.

I got an email about some play coming to Broadway - I haven't read it carefully, but it looks like Carol Lynn Pearson has something to do with it (based on her book? I don't know).

The end.

C. L. Hanson said...

Thanks Rebecca!!!

I would say I missed you too, except that I've been secretly keeping up with your blog... ;^)

You probably got the same email I did. I think when she was compiling her mailing list someone probably gathered up the email addresses posted by all of the exmo bloggers for her.

Floating in the Milk said...

Hi c.l. - it's good to see you back here.

I just lost my post telling you how easy and painless it was to switch to blogger beta. When you click on the "Sign in with your beta login" link, your comment disappears and you have to start over. I guess you're supposed to follow that link first to post on non-beta blogs. Anyway, besides that glitch it's been no problem for me since I switched.

C. L. Hanson said...

Thanks Floating in the Milk!!!

So the switch didn't screw up the URLs of your individual posts? i.e. if you had a post at the address "http://floatinginthemilk.blogspot.com/2006/12/f2f.html" before you switched from blogger to blogger beta, it's still at the same address after the switch?

Anonymous said...

Hey, welcome back.

Though I don't use blogger, I have seen weirdness so far with the blogs that have switched to beta. If I were you, I'd hold out for a release candidate.

C. L. Hanson said...

Thanks Pete!!!

I'll hold off then...

Anonymous said...

I agree - it's good to have you back!

I didn't have a choice - I had to go with the beta version. I do know there's an issue with Netscape and logging in. Firefox appears to work though.

C. L. Hanson said...

Thanks Aerin!!!

Well, I'm using Firefox, so at least I have that going for me. Still I think maybe I'll hold off until people really convince me there's no danger...

C. L. Hanson said...

Thanks Domokun!!!

So you were at FITM's DAMU lunch? I am so jealous of you guys who get to meet other exmo/post-Mo friends IRL!!!

I hate to imagine what stories my former apartment-mate may have had -- I remember doing stuff that pissed her off...

In truth I was mean and angry little hellian in those days but we had great fun... ;-)

MattMan said...

Welcome back!

I switched to beta, and have not noticed a change in the direct-to-post URLs, nor have I had any problems leaving comments on anyone's blogs.

One commenter did note that if you're not already signed in with your google account, then if you click the sign on with google account button, you will lose anything you already typed. So be sure you are logged in first, or do like I do to be safe, copy what you wrote to the clipboard (select it all with the mouse, ctrl-c to copy to clipboard), then do the login, then paste your content back in (ctrl-v). No problem.

Oh, and for the record, I use Firefox 2 for all of this.

Rebecca said...

Secretly keeping up on my blog without leaving comments! I'm SHOCKED! And yet SO flattered...

Goooood morning, VietNAM!
That's what your title reminds me of. Which is probably what it's SUPPOSED to remind me of, which is probably why I'm being Obvious Girl.

So far, NOT convinced about blogger beta.

C. L. Hanson said...

Thanks Mattman!!!

I'll probably make the switch eventually, but I think I'll hold off for the moment...

Hey Domokun!!!

Of course, Steve -- the guy from the famous BYU library story. When I met him I was 18 and he was 36. I'm planning to write a post of stories about him one of these days -- he was such a character!!!

And that's so funny that of all of BYU, my brother was "the guy who didn't go on a mission" *shudder* ;-)

Hey Rebecca!!!

Yep, shocking but true!!! ;-)

It's true, that's the reference I was going for. It's kind of a pointless reference though since I didn't mean anything by it, and in fact I haven't even seen the movie...

from the ashes said...

Welcome back! But I always knew you were lurking on my blog...statcounter is amazing.

I switched to beta, and haven't had trouble except to remember to log in with my google account. I thought I'd loose all the template changes (which I'd programmed into the html myself), but I didn't. And I really like the labeling feature.

C. L. Hanson said...

Thanks FtA!!!

Hehe, you caught me!!!

I use statcounter too, and a lot of times I can tell if it's a particular blogger, especially if they click through their own blogstats program to land on my blog. ;-)

That's good to hear another person that had a painless switchover. I'm sure I'll take the plunge, I just have to psyche myself up to it...

m said...

Oh, she's back!!! Just in time for xmas!!!

My cup runneth over!!!

:-)

C. L. Hanson said...

Thanks Montchan!!!

Yep, it's my Christmas present to me!!! (and to all of you ;-) )

Rebecca said...

It's a good movie. I like pointless references. I post them a LOT, and people rarely notice - or if they do they rarely mention it. And it's NO FUN if no one gets the joke, which is why I thought I'd be Obvious Girl (Dun dun da DUN!!!) and let you know that it didn't go to waste.

Sideon said...

Welcome back! Thank all the known gods and goddesses (domestic or divine) for the Livefeed bookmarks - otherwise I'd not have known that you're back in business :)

Sister Mary Lisa said...

Welcome back. I have a personal theory about Blogger...I think they CREATED ON PURPOSE the problems with posting that so many experienced there for a week or more -- just so that people would be tempted to switch finally to blogger beta. I'm not switching. And now I can post comments again! Yessss. Usually I cave in, but I'm glad I didn't here. I've heard a lot of complaints about beta.

Anyway, so glad you're back, and that your project went well.

C. L. Hanson said...

Thanks Rebecca and Sideon!!!

Thanks SML!!!

You may be right. I was thinking it was a glitch with some sort of merging or unmerging of the two networks, but it was working before, and if it ain't broke....

Freckle Face Girl said...

Welcome back!!!! Thanks for not switching to beta, so I can comment. Blogger hasn't even offered the switch to me. :(

C. L. Hanson said...

Thanks Freckle Face Girl!!!

Blogger hasn't offered you the switch? That's odd... It seems like every time I go to my blogger dashboard to post it's telling me "The new beta version is ready for you!"

Cyn Bagley said...

Hi... didn't know you were back up...

Anyway, I finally changed yesterday. I lost nothing. Hope that helps. :-)

C. L. Hanson said...

Thanks Cynthia!!!

So none of your page URLs got screwed-up?

Cyn Bagley said...

The URLs seem to be OK... but I haven't checked them all. ;-)

Cyn Bagley said...

I have checked them all now... and they are good. ;-)

C. L. Hanson said...

Excellent, thanks!!!

I guess I'll probably make the switch at some point then...

C. L. Hanson said...

Thanks Eric!!!

It's great to be back among the living and join in the fun again!!!

And don't worry -- I'd already noticed your new link and updated my sidebar. :D