Month: June 2005

Crankypantsing, Meta

Pee Ess:

Shelly

And another thing… Cutesy flash intros are not so very cute, especially those that force the visitor to solve a logic puzzle in order to enter the website. I tried accessing one site with three different browsers, thinking there was a coding incompatibility, when the real problem was that I was too damned stupid to figure out that I had to drag an object across the screen in order to enter the site. That’s a mean joke to play on people. Call me silly, but it seems to me that giving visitors a reason to turn away defeats the whole purpose of having a web presence. I’m just sayin’…

Crankypantsing, Meta

HTML HELL

Shelly

With the exception of Mr. and Mrs. B’s kick-ass Memorial Day on a Sunday party, I ended up spending the entirety of my mini-vacation working on the new website. Really. The Whole Thing. And, by “whole thing,” I mean 14 hours/day with very few breaks. I have two words to describe the experience: o ick. It’s tedious, nit-picky work. I’m pretty happy with the overall look and the layout, though. It’s visually crisp and simple.

I got to work early this ayem, so I spent some time cruising around, looking at other artists’ websites. What I saw made me glad that I listened to the Little Voice who told me to keep things minimal. She usually knows what she’s talking about. Most of the websites I looked at had a lot of visual junk going on, but most of it served no purpose but to clutter up the screen, eat bandwidth, and show off the author’s mAd c0d1nG Sk1LLz. Folks, just because you can doesn’t mean you should. And that goes double for anything–and I mean a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g–that blinks, bounces, rotates, or does any other sort of virtual calisthenics. Enough, already!

I also spent far too much time re-scanning and re-photographing images. That’s almost as tedious as coding, but the results are proving to be well worth the effort–especially for work with 3D elements that didn’t scan well. Having a serviceable digital camera has made life ever so much easier.

Another thing I’m discovering–and this comes as a surprise to me–is that I have a bit of a disconnect between visual and written expression. I don’t have any illusions about being the author of the next Great American Novel, but I’d like to think that I express myself fairly well with words. However, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for me to switch back and forth between expressing myself in words and in images. Why is this relevant? Well, I’ve been researching and writing copy to go with much of the artwork for the website. It shouldn’t be rocket science, but I’m finding that changing gears between thinking visually and expressing verbally is not as easy as it once was. So, it’s taking more time and effort than I had anticipated.

Anyway, I still have a metric butt load of work to do, but I’m hoping to get things running in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, here’s the graphic I’ll be using on my main page. There are few things as beautiful as a contentedly sleeping cat.

Pandora
Pandora

Crankypantsing

Title o’ the Day

Shelly

Opinion on the proposal for a Council decision establishing a community action programme to promote active European citizenship (civic participation) and the communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on measures to be taken by member states to ensure participation of all citizens of the Union to the 2004 elections to the European Parliament in an enlarged Union.

Now doesn’t that sound like a barrel of laughs? Hello and welcome to my life. I know you’re all envious, aren’t you? In other news, the mosquito bites still itch like crazy, it’s still hot and humid, and the fountain machine at my favorite Big Foot is dispensing weak sodapepsicokepop. I’m trying to think of something positive about this day, but for the life of me, I can’t come up with anything–just more suckitude. Like, for instance, when I got to work this ayem, the custodians were busily (and noisily!) replacing all the fluorescent bulbs we’d asked them to remove. So, now I’m working under interrogation lights.

But, hey, it’s not all bad news. It’s once again safe to get your tits out. Praise be!

Art, Collage, Letters to Esther

Better Late than Never

Shelly

I finally found time to transcribe some more Letters to Esther. I believe I uploaded 11 new files, which completes the first–and smallest–box o’ letters. Whew! As I get time, I’m going to put the transcripts on-line, with scans of the actual letters. That way they’ll be more searchable and user-friendly. Or, at least, that’s the intention.

One box down, four or five boxes to go!

That’s about all I have to report. It’s bloody damned hot–95F with 1000% humidity. I need gills. All I want to do is sit and try to expend as little energy as possible. The dogs aren’t enjoying it, either. They’re both as flat, and useless, as pancakes.

000_0001

This photo is from a week ago. It’s nice and cool and green, which is not at all what my yard looks like right now. Now, it’s overgrown (too damned hot to mow) and steamy looking.

Edit: I forgot to mention the mosquito bites. Lordy! I went with some friends to scope out the loot at a yard sale they were having. I scored a bunch of books for arting, some cool bones (big–cow or horse or something in that vein) and a mess of mosquito bites. I’m about to cry. I put lidocaine lotion on them and took Benadryl, but nothing seems to be helping. Yuck!

We also went to see Batman Begins after the yard sale set-up. I’ve never been a fan of the Batman movies, but I was impressed. It was easily one of the best movies I’ve seen in quite awhile–well worth full evening price. It’s dark and, while there are humorous moments, it’s not at ALL cheesy.

One last thing! Here’s the top of an end table I decoupaged a few years ago. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s a fun and colorful way to tart up an ugly piece of junky furniture.

Collaged End Table

Crankypantsing, Meta

Monday Crankypantsing

Shelly

Apparently, my web host has been having techsicault diffnulties this afternoon. I’ve had trouble getting into various parts of my website (slooooooow and spotty outages), and haven’t been able to access my blog at all, not even the admin parts, all afternoon. It looks like it’s back up now, though. Hrmph.

While checking my error reports, I noticed that I had seriously fubarred the uploading of some of the thumbnail images for the blog, and, since I was wanting to break all the links between the blog and the old website anyway, I went ahead (before the crash) and redirected everything so that it points at the new gallery. I hope. If I’ve missed something, I’m sure it’ll show up in an error report, or just mention it in comments or email and I’ll fix it. As soon as I’m positive I’ve got all the files duplicated properly, and all the links redirected, and all the text info moved (haven’t even started on that, yet), I’ll nuke the old pages.

Happy damned Monday!

Uncategorized

Fireflies

Shelly

I stayed up a little later than I intended last night. I usually try to go to bed by 8:00 on work nights, because I get up at 4am. Last night, though, I didn’t get to bed until around 9:30. I let the dogs out at nine-ish for their last potty break. It wasn’t quite full dark yet, but the fireflies were unbelievable. Over the past few years, I’ve noticed that their numbers have decreased. Last summer, it was rare to see more than a handful on any given night. Last night, though. Oh my. There were hundreds and hundreds of little twinkling faery lights. It was gorgeous. I sat on the deck, watching them and listening to the dogs wuffling around in the grass. After awhile, the twinkling became hypnotic. It was difficult to determine their relative distances, which made it seem as if space were collapsing. It was an odd, claustrophobic sort of feeling and I was reminded of one of my mom’s favorite poems, Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Renascence.

And, speaking of happy bugs, I discovered a stand of milkweed growing in the scrubby area between my fence and my neighbor’s fence. Yesterday evening, big, fat, lazy bumblebees and some sort of swallowtail butterfly were feeding from its flowers. I didn’t get a picture of the swallowtail, but I think I got one of a bumblebee. If it turned out, I’ll post it. The spangled fritillaries are back, too! I’ll try to get photos of the whole gang.