Kills Houseplants

Fresh, New, Exciting

Well - maybe not "fresh", more than likely not "exciting" and certainly not grammatically correct usage of commas (Why start now)

but next week more kills houseplants.

Thanks to BBL, Flutter, Louise and Mara for prompting me to get off my keister and write.

Have a great weekend - 

coming soon:

Tuesday with Angry

more tales of the lockerroom

things that bug CF (this is a long list)

and maybe a return trip to the party cove! (okay - probably not, but my limited marketing experience tells me to promote what sells and that story got a lot of hits)

Later Taters.

What is the deal?

Dear BlogDiary,

It is hard to get a read on who is reading you. Jake tells me not to sweat it, but who is he kidding? Did he forget who he is married to? I don't know how to not sweat anything. By the way, what decade is he living in with a phrase like "sweat it"? Next thing you know he will tell me to sit on it.

Anyway - the readership of this here bloggy thing is hard to determine. The page counter is nebulous at best as it only counts unique page counts - not unique i.p. addresses. So blog, that means that one person clicking around willy nilly from page to page will count as more than one reader. So, you can see the problem this presents.

The only thing I can be certain of is that if you comment, you must have read. This leads me to believe that I have two faithful readers who have very poor mouse control and wind up clicking all over the place, which would account for a number higher than two in my stat counter. HOWEVER, I know Louise and Angry to be very proficient in their computing skills, and neither of them, to my knowledge, lives on a fault line, or are prone to drinking in excess-not daily anyway- (all again which would account for errant clicks). So, this causes me to wonder, dear bloggy:

Who is reading this?
What do I have to do to get them to comment?

I have blatantly asked for comments a number of times, but still only the faithful Louise, AngryMan and Jake comment with any regularity and Jake doesn't count because he is my husband. Just like it doesn't count when I ask him if my butt looks big - he has to say no.

So, what do I do to get you people to comment? Why are you shy? I know all of you (which leads me to another point I will address in a minute) and you are rarely shy - so am I just not talking about something that compels you to comment? What would compel you? How do I get you to participate in this? Do you not want to participate - do you just want me to let you read and leave you be? I should be happy that you are reading and don't ask for anymore.

Also - I am operating under the assumption that everyone reading this knows me - if there is someone who doesn't know my alter ego - could you post a comment. I would consider that a neat thing!

Bloggily,
CF

Blah lah blog’

On Thurday’s post, depending on when you read it, you might have noticed the ’ was inserted on some of the words. It showed up whenever an apostrophe was being used. I apologize as that was not intentional – the computer did it. I am thinking it is one of two things:

1. If you read my post "Blogging Without a Net" you know that I was strongly cautioned by the Typepad “Powers that Be” (Oh, how I would love to be a “Powers that Be”) that you should not write your post in Word then copy and paste it into the Typepad posting area. They warned against that saying that it could cause formatting errors. It was enough to scare me. So, for a day or two I would type the post in Word to catch any spelling/grammatical errors and then diligently retype the post into the space provided. I had no formatting errors on the blog, but sent numerous keystroke errors out into cyberspace only to correct the post a number of times before getting it right.

Then Jake (Jake, can you tell you are about to get blamed for something here?) told me not to worry – they weren’t talking about any sort of formatting errors that could affect me. So just do it already and save yourself some time. (I don’t think his motivation was purely self-less as he was probably tired of hearing me say how much time it took to post.) I was weak. I succumbed to his pressure and to the lure of the quick(er) post. Forgive me Typepad for I have sinned. I copied and pasted from Word, but Jake made me do it.

2. I am new at this whole blogging gig. I have no formal training in writing or in web design – both of which would make the blog a better place to be. In case you haven’t read my “About” page, I was a Communication major in college. As a good old non-liberal liberal arts girl I did not have to take CISQ or other programming classes (remember college was 14+ years ago – ugh!!!!!). So now I am trying my hand at some HTML code. This I liken to trying your hand at some brain surgery or some electrical engineering without the fatal or fire inducing consequences. There are a number of websites, books and classes available to give someone a working knowledge of HTML – and I will eventually take one or buy a book. But let’s be honest, I am lazy so I will probably skim some of the information on the web and then be armed and dangerous.
To date everything I know about HTML I have learned from the always authoritative Evite website. How did Evite teach me code you might ask. ""CF, where you invited to a programming party? CF, does your super Mac computer get a different version of Evite than us poor, old PC users? No, but if you open old invitations there is the applied HTML code for you to see. This may not be the best way to learn code and thus could have accounted for the weirdness that occurred on Thursday.

So – watch the blog for evidence of me tinkering with the code Party November 18and Party November 18

Dear Diary

Dear Blah Blah Blog Diary -

I had a great blog day today. I want to welcome back any second time viewers now, but am not sure how to do that or even if there are any new readers. Dear Diary - I am confused.

My stat counter doesn't show who was new. Diary, I check it ALL the time, it still doesn't show. (Like I needed another thing to get OCD about)

For all I know Diary - Jake, My Sis, Mara and Barry all read my football post My Type of Football a number of times today. I agree there was a lot of technical football jargon in there and they might have needed a couple of passes to digest it all. I feel the same way whenever I watch College GameDay - so much to learn.

Maybe it was my faithful four, but I had the most hits ever today - which is exciting and frightening. Diary, how do I know if they like me? They don't comment. (Only Jake does and that is because we find it easier to email and conduct a relationship via the internet than in person. Works great with the kids too!)

Will they come back tomorrow? How to know?

Maybe I am getting serious consideration as the new Razorback head coach and my stat count reflects the board of trustees reviewing my application. Who is to say?

Maybe it was new or some-new readers, Diary. If that is the case - what do I post tomorrow to keep them coming back? I have a couple of items in the hopper, but not sure what to do.

Do you pull out the best piece you have ready and hope to hook them then - and worry about coming up with more strong material on Thursday?

Or do you put in a middle of the road piece and weed out the luke-warm readers, thus serving your best stuff for the truly devoted?

Oh Diary, if only you could tell me!
I guess I will have to wait and see.

Blog,
CF

P.S. Should I wear my new jeans tomorrow or blog in my old comfy ones?
P.S.S. You are the best diary ever!
P.S.S.S. I am really going now.

Comments

Well the decorations are going up, but I am having a hard time concentrating - think my reading public is waiting for something fresh, new and exciting from me. Why they are expecting this when they haven't got any of it yet, I am not sure. They are a committted lot.

I am realizing that many of you, not you Mara, but the rest of you, are like me, learning about this as we go. I feel it is important to point out to you newbies (not me, I have been at this for over a week now) that a blog has an opportunity for you to comment.

On the bottom of each post is a number of options to select - if you choose "comments" - you are then able to post your own remarks. Kind of like having your own blog, except that it is mine and don't try and hijack it okay!

I would love to hear what you have to say.

"CF, this is Pulitzer winning stuff." "CF - you must be an amazing woman in person, may I be the president of your fan club." "CF, have you ever considered public office?" "CF, you are a renaissance woman - I want my children to grow up and be like you - even my girls."

Well, actually, if what you have to say to me is negative - I don't want to hear what you have to say and would prefer to be lied to. If you need help thinking what to say, may I suggest something from the list above?

Off to blogland,
CF