what's with the change?

all right.

if you've been following along for long enough, you know that ever since i started this blog i have doggedly held on to the original layout and formatting that i started with, kind of like a badge of pride.

it says: "i have been keeping this blog since this layout was spiffy state-of-the-art", or at least that's what i thought i wanted it to say, and then i realized that i just didn't like the layout all that much anyway, and it's been a lot of trouble to keep and try to customize it instead of using the cool new templates that blogger always wants you to use when they bring out the new ones.

so ok, ok. i went with the new look and i think i've decided that i'll update the color scheme at least according to the seasons, which is kind of what i do on my website anyway. sort of.

over there i keep the photo albums updated and update the podcast when i have new music, but the general theme stays the same. what changes most regularly is the front page, where the photo changes according to what the view from my desk looks like.

yes, that really is the view from my desk. i crop it a little so you don't see the neighbor's garage, but i'm really only looking at the mountain anyway, unless my neighbors are doing something interesting in their garage.

either way, i'm happy.

what's really going on over here is that martin has picked a very ambitious piece for the church choir and i spend time practicing that, but it's not so much that the music is difficult but that it stretches my range and endurance, so i have to practice more in general.

i'm still working on new music, although not finishing any, so i don't have much to show you, and i meant to post the pictures and stuff from the bead project (now that i can tell you it was about beads)

but i got caught up in a little web design project for this artist friend of mine and although before i got sick i was starting to get very good with the rudimentary HTML they had back then, things have moved along pretty quickly without me and of course what i need to do is modify iWeb templates (have you TRIED to modify iWeb templates?) and i started to do internet searches about how to do that but most of the answers you get to that question is that it just can't be done but i found this ONE genius woman who not only knows it can be done, but will tell you HOW.

but her directions (view full article) break down a little near the end:

All of these sections are now handled by some simple HTML and CSS that’s embedded within the XML. If you know a little of both of those, you should be able to make your way around that stuff.

ok, before i got sick i had a pretty good grasp of HTML, but XML? all i know about it is that it's related to HTML, and i  understand the progress, but i'm nothing like caught up and CSS? i don't even know what that stands for, so i had a little reading to do.

and unfortunately most of what's written out there is either aimed at people who already have advanced skills, or it is aimed at people who have no skills, and some of what's out there is just plain wrong.

and then as the website is looking pretty good, i decide that it has to have its own favicon, so i had to learn to do that, which is a whole other kettle of fish.


i'd been kind of meaning to make me a favicon for my own sites, but it seemed too complicated, but as long as i was learning, i made one.

isn't it cute?

i have one for the artist friend, too, but i'm still figuring out how to place it properly in iWeb pages and it's really easy to bork ALL of your pages when you start messing with apple's templates.

so. it's time for noon prayer and then lunch and maybe some grocery shoping and a bike ride; grocery shopping for sure and maybe a bike ride. 

i hope i have the energy for a bike ride. the season is four weeks old and i pretty much suck. getting your conditioning back takes a LOT longer than losing it.

i'll talk to you later.