Do you ever wonder where people blog?

Do you ever wonder how they write a post? [...]

Why? When? Where? How? Do you blog?

I blog right here:

At a desk set in one corner of my bedroom. Yes, I know it’s very cluttered. Which probably explains a lot of my life and why my blog goes unupdated. The pile, one of a few in my room, represents projects or tasks I have yet to complete.

But I never get around to them because I spend most of my time trying to catch up with all the social media updates: Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Livejournal, Youtube, and deviantArt when I can remember. (I’m a year behind on dA. *shame*) This by itself doesn’t take up much time, to be honest. But a lot of links are posted for such interesting articles or news items or random knowledge, I get stuck reading and reading and … reading …

After that on my list of priorities (which is topped by tv, sadly) is writing up my backlog of trips to Disneyland for my personal account. (The count is currently 15 trips over the past 8 or 9 months, waurrgh!)

At the end is writing at least one entry a month for my blog. I have a tiny list of ideas for blog entries. They are so unwieldy and require so much time to write, however, that I usually skip writing about them and go with the most recent idea that’s been floating around in my head for a couple weeks.

There’s no real process to writing for my blog. I just decide that Today Is the Day and I shouldn’t (or can’t!) put it off any longer, and I spend an hour or two writing. I don’t have drafts stored on my blog (mostly because WordPress’ storage of drafts as completely separate from and filling up the same database slots as published posts irks me), and I don’t write much of anything beforehand. It’s partially laziness and partially lack of time, but I think it’s mostly because when I do write out or plan out blog entries in my head, like during long commutes home from work, the thought or idea leaves my system, and I no longer feel a compulsion to post it up here.

That’s about it. Boring, I know. But I managed to fit in my “real” post for March! Yeah!

I also spent my extra day of the year very well, I think, at Disneyland’s One More Disney Day. Twenty-four hours straight of Disneyland! Woo! March 1st I spent in front of the tv, trying to recuperate.

Hopefully this won’t be my post of the month, because I do have ideas for blog entries, I just lack the time to formulate my thoughts and type them up here!

I asked Mum about trying a water boiler one last time, but she was adamant: “I already gave them my money; I don’t want to give them any more.” We’ve been living the old fashioned way ever since: boiling water kettle on the range.

However, today Mum confided to me, “Our gas bill is up to a hundred dollars now.” We aren’t sure if it’s worth the money, saving on electricity to run the hot water pot, if the gas bill is going so high.

I’ve been considering buying an electric water kettle, but wasn’t sure how accepting Mum would be. I think she’ll be more willing now that I heard about our gas bill. The electric kettle would only be used once or twice in the morning and once in the afternoon. Not too huge a drain on our electricity. And no hanging around to make sure the stove is turned off before the kettle screams!

The other day my mom commented how her new coffee she’d bought tasted weird. She added more instant coffee and creamer and managed to finish her coffee.

Later, my green tea that I’d made had a funny taste as well, some sort of sickly sweet taste. Since I had another drink I set it aside, planning to ask my mom what was wrong with it.

Then I got a message from my mom, don’t drink my tea, there’s oil in the water boiler!

At home she explained that she’d found a film of oil on top of the water when she went to refill the pot. She cleaned it three times and there was still oil, which was coming up from underneath the area that stored water. Searching online, she found that these water boilers use oil to heat the water. (Although I can’t replicate her results, and wonder if she confused the electric pot with the home water heater tank.)

This was our second water boiler; our first was made by Panasonic and that one just up and quit on us after a year or two. We generally don’t buy Panasonic anymore. But this Zojirushi oil problem has me worried. The pot lasted us a little over a year, and the 1-year limited warranty of course has run out. I don’t know that the warranty would have covered our problem anyway. This is Zojirushi! Says right on the pot, “Made in Japan”!! It’s not supposed to bust in such an odd manner.

My mom has given up on the water boilers, but they are one of my favorite things! I love being able to make my little oyunomi of ocha at any time of the day, frequently or infrequently! The water kettle cools down too quickly for my tastes. (Need to reheat after only 20 minutes? Inconceivable!) People on Amazon write that their pots last up to 10 years, so maybe I can convince my mom that the third time’s a charm…

• Once Upon a Time: Started watching this. My inner Disney fangirl is squeeing.
• Pan Am: I care less and less for the storylines, but I really enjoy the characters. I don’t know if I want to keep watching or not.
• Good Wife: This used to compete with Big Bang Theory as my favorite show (currently running), but not so much this season.
• 2 Broke Girls: Surprisingly one of the shows I really look forward to every week. I love watching Kat Dennings. Does anyone else get the feeling she’s ad libbing some lines and amusing herself along the way? Or maybe she and Beth Behrs just enjoy the jokes that much; it often looks like they’re trying not to laugh out loud.
• Two and a Half Men: I didn’t watch past the second episode, but I heard my fears are realized: Ashton’s character is just awful.
• The Lying Game: The season ended but here’s my commentary: Darn, the season ended! I need to know more!!
• Glee: I am this close to not watching the show anymore. Kurt has me hanging on by the thinnest of threads. The prospect of seeing Damian’s guest role will keep me coming back for a while though.
• New Girl: Still the same as before. Every episode seems the same. She’s wacky and weird and the guys abandon her, but then everyone joins in a big ol’ happy group hug.
• Raising Hope: Haven’t seen an episode since the second of the season, but I think I haven’t been missing much. Hilarious show, but not a must-see on a weekly basis.
• Spy MyeongWol: I only remember to watch this show when I’m watching tv, so I haven’t watched since the World Series ran. But I plan to catch up on Youtube eventually.
• Mythbusters: Awesome. That is all.
• Psych: Yay! This was the show that I hoped would replace Monk in my tv line-up, but it never quite reached that level. Still really fun to watch.
• American Horror Story: Psychosexual thriller? Yeah, not so much into that part of the show. What I really enjoy is the history behind each of the ghosts. That’s what I’ve always loved about ghost stories.
• Revenge: This is probably my new favorite show. (Competing with Big Bang Theory, of course.) I can’t say any more than this, I’m not objective enough.
• Big Bang Theory: Ditto. I love watching geekery.
• Person of Interest: I missed an episode in the past month but I didn’t bother to watch it online, yet I still watch it every week. (Jim Caviezel.) I don’t know what more I can say. Every episode follows the same formula.
• The Mentalist: Same as Person of Interest. But I really like the characters. Also this is the one show where (half the time, anyway) I try to follow along and figure out what Patrick is thinking or seeing. And Patrick’s aversion to the violent action scenes is refreshing.
• Grimm: This looks like fun. I never watched Buffy or Angel, so to me this sort of show is new.

What I wanted: A simple backup of all my tweets from my account and all my favorited tweets of others.

What I kept finding: Integrate Twitter into WordPress! Widget! Cross-post! Update Twitter about new blog updates!

I was dazzled by wp-lifestream and briefly considered backing up all of my social networking accounts. That was until I saw over 500 files for the plugin queued up in my FTP program. I didn’t want a plugin that required almost as many files as the WordPress install itself! (Although someone says he’s working on cleaning up the plugin, wp-lifestream2, so I don’t know how it’ll end up.)

I wanted to try out Tweet Tweet but it requires registration at Twitter and acquiring OAuth? Too much hassle just for a simple archive. But I did really like the possibility of storing Twitter replies to me, and of archiving tables. (Not that I tweet that much, although my current 1500 WordPress entries seems a bit much for me.)

After I found these instructions how to import old Twitter favorites into WordPress, I finally decided on running the Twitter Importer plugin after using the Tweet Importer to import all of my old tweets (versus only the last 20 with Twitter Importer).

Two tips I could have used, instead of having to redo my original import:

One, set the default category to the type of tweet being imported, eg “My Tweets” versus “Favorite Tweets,” if you’d like the tweets separated into different categories.

Two, turn off allowing comments! No reason to leave myself open to spammenting on old tweets!

I’d consider this a good day’s work. Even though I didn’t get paid. (Not enough work at my job at the moment. Bah.)

It’s the last day of the month. I need to write something or go down in my archives as having not updated for three entire months. My job is still taking over most of my mind, and the rest of my mind is occupied with keeping up with social media. And yes, I will complain about that as long and loud as I can, anywhere I can.

Sadly, the one thing in my life that I can update with is tv. The boob tube is all I “think” about outside of work.

My tv premiere schedule last week consisted of:

Mon
CBS 9:00 Two and a Half Men
CBS 9:30 2 Broke Girls

Tue
FOX 8:00 Glee
FOX 9:00 New Girl
FOX 9:30 Raising Hope

Wed
ABC 10:00 Revenge

Thu
CBS 8:00 Big Bang Theory
CBS 8:30 Big Bang Theory
CBS 9:00 Person of Interest
CBS 10:00 The Mentalist

Fri
CBS 8:00 A Gifted Man

Sun
CBS 9:00 The Good Wife
ABC 10:00 Pan Am

I also watched The Lying Game on ABC Family, but it wasn’t a premiere episode.

A lot of these shows are new. I think I’ll continue watching most of them.

My thoughts of the shows:

• Two and a Half Men: I just watched the first two episodes to see how Charlie’s death and Ashton Kutcher’s introduction were handled. I’m probably done for the rest of the season.
• 2 Broke Girls: It’s a fairly standard sitcom, standard jokes, standard characters. Although it’s pretty risqué for an 8:30 show. I watch it for Kat Dennings. Don’t know if it’ll last.
• The Lying Game: I skipped the first few episodes of this show, but the commercials kept getting me interested, so I started watching since my brother DVRs it anyway. It’s a different storyline.
• Glee: Yes, I kept up watching last season for the most part. The season premiere was bland, I thought. Mostly just reintroducing the characters and their new storylines. More annoying bickering between the Glee teacher and Sue. But yay, Lindsay from the Glee Project showed up in that episode! (No, she wasn’t my favorite.) The second episode was better. And had more Kurt. So I’ll keep watching.
• New Girl: It’s silly and cute. I don’t know how long it’ll keep my interest, but so far I’m watching just for Zooey Deschanel.
• Raising Hope: I caught a few episodes of this over the summer and thought it was hilarious. (Cloris Leachman on rollerblades?) The humor reminds me of Malcolm in the Middle with its outlandish situations. With Glee and New Girl, it’s easy enough to remember to catch this show.
• Spy MyeongWol: I found this show while flipping channels during Raising Hope’s commercial breaks. This show is the reason I keep watching less and less of Raising Hope as the half hour goes by. I’m not into Asian dramas, but I like watching the main actress, and I find the show hilarious (as I do most Asian dramas… I suck, I know) so I’m catching up on the beginning of the series through Youtube.
• Revenge: Oooh, this is probably the show I find most promising. Firstly, Emily VanCamp from Everwood? I wanted to see what she’s doing now. Secondly, pretty good ad campaign during the summer. Thirdly, and most importantly, this show makes me think of Count of Monte Cristo, one of my favorite books. I have to keep watching!
• Big Bang Theory: Yay! Along with The Good Wife, this is probably my favorite show currently running. And double yay for Jim Parsons winning an Emmy this year!
• Person of Interest: I had no idea what this show was about, although I got that it’s an action show. All I knew was Count of Monte Cristo I mean, Jim Caviezel was in it. I watch it for his face. :) But I have to say, this show makes me paranoid.
• The Mentalist: Gobsmacked, man. Found not guilty??? I need to learn more about this mentalist thing.
• A Gifted Man: I didn’t think the show would be interesting, I just found myself free on a Friday night so I decided to watch it. I was hoping it would ease the pain of losing Medium, but no. There was more to Medium than just her ability to talk to dead people; I loved the characters and the family interaction too. A Gifted Man just seemed so blah. Like every episode will be Patient of the Week.
• The Good Wife: Well. Can’t say I like the storyline as much as last season. I liked seeing her relationships with Kalinda and her husband. Not that I think she should stick with her husband no matter what, I just liked seeing how she was dealing with the situation with him.
• Pan Am: The bus stop ad and mall ad campaign got me interested. A friend of mine is into planes and he watches the show. I like the history of it. But I’ve read that it’s broadcast’s answer to AMC’s Mad Men (along with The Playboy Club), so that turns me off. I don’t want to watch a show that will get me upset over how women were treated in the 60s. Also the first episode hinted there’ll be a lot of relationship storylines, which bores me because I can see that in almost any other show. I want to see more about Pan Am! Like Pan Am going to the Bay of Pigs to transport released prisoners? I didn’t know airlines did stuff like that…

All in all, this year looks to be more promising than last year.

In April I spent one week working to get my portfolio website up. (Aside: Despite having written it up with php includes in its first incarnation, I decided to do it slightly differently so I had to edit each page to make the changes, mainly putting more of the head stuff in my include file. x.x That’s what I spent a few days doing.)

Over the weekend I decided to bite the bullet and move from Lightbox 2 with a “Coda Slider Effect” script to Fancybox with jCarousel Lite. I was so excited, thinking I’d move from the buggy Coda Slider Effect (Sometimes the slider would choose to slide vertically instead of horizontally, and on one especially annoying page, the slider would decide to wrap one of the three divs around, so going from the second to the third slide showed a diagonal top-right to bottom-left slide.) and the slow, bulky Lightbox 2 design and animation effect that I could never tweak to my liking. jCarousel Lite would, implied by the name, be a lighter javascript file, and with Fancybox running off the jQuery library as well, I could ditch the scriptaculous and prototype files.

I installed jCarousel Lite and Fancybox and set them all up on a Friday. Spent that night and the next morning trying to make them work at all. I don’t know what I did wrong there but I did manage to eventually get them working “out of the box” as promised.

The Problem

The big problem came when I realized in Fancybox when I had the next and previous navigation option turned on that the last image would repeat. I’d get to what I thought was the last image but there was still an arrow pointing to another image, which would just lead to a repeat of the same image. When I first clicked the last image and navigated to the first image, the same problem would occur, but in reverse. (That is, the first image would repeat.)

I combed the Fancybox support area. I tried using search engines to find a solution. jCarouselLite had no support area (not that it needs one, it’s so simple). I tried using a number of different searches, different words (repeat, same image, duplicate image, the list goes on). But no one else seemed to use the two scripts together, or to have the same problem I did.

Then, after letting my brain rest (staying up to four in the morning to fix javascript problems is a bad idea, I know, but it’s like scratching that itch you can’t reach!) I remembered that one function of the Carousel: to wrap around in an endless loop.

The Solution

I don’t know how jCarousel makes it work, and perhaps I could have skipped my javascript headaches weekend by just using jCarousel, but I liked the simplicity of the Lite script.

jCarousel Lite, in order to create that circular loop of images (or whatever content used) needs to make a duplicate of the first div. I just turned off the circular option, since I chose to use the external controls over the left and right navigation arrows.

That one little switch, and oh my gosh everything fell so nicely into place once I turned it off! The three days (or maybe two, if you don’t count the time I spent just trying to make the scripts work in the first place) I spent wracking my brains were over just like that!

Javascript, I don’t understand you, therefore I hate you.

But this year… This year I actually have a source of income (small as it may be), and yet I don’t want to go. First of all it’s because I’m only interested in The Strokes of all the twelve bands, and only somewhat interested. (I’ve never heard of over half those bands, which probably goes to show how little I listen to KROQ nowadays.)

Secondly, I realized… I’m just different. There is a palpable change in my personality, oh my gosh! I’m getting old, I change less and less every year, compared to the years in my childhood, so it’s fascinating to me when I notice a change.

From the 2004 line-up, the bands I wanted to see and my current opinion: The Strokes – meh; Bad Religion – nope; Yeah Yeah Yeahs – maybe; Velvet Revolver – ew no; Yellowcard – nope; New Found Glory – nope; Modest Mouse – maybe; and The Killers – yeah right.

2005: Hot Hot Heat – nope; Interpol – nope; Jimmy Eat World – I only really liked Bleed American their self-titled album; The Killers!! – (exclamation points from original entry, hahaha!) nope; My Chemical Romance – no way in hell; MXPX – I don’t even remember who this band is; Queens otSA – maybe, but I haven’t listened to anything but Songs for the Deaf; Alkaline Trio – nope; The Bravery – nope.

Anyway. I didn’t say much in this entry. My music tastes have changed, big woop. But a slight change from 2004, I might be willing now to go see a live musical performance. I’ve seen Celtic Woman a number of times, “dragged” there by my brother, and if I got a seat far back enough from the stage maybe the volume won’t hurt my ears.

The only rock band I have any interest in seeing perform live though is Muse. I think they’re in L.A. this summer? I keep seeing ads on Facebook for tickets. But no one else I know is into Muse, so I’d be going alone, which would never happen.